geography contd.

Measures taken to address low population growth (Singapore LDQ)

1. Family friendly policies

- Work-life balance.

The government has implemented work life balance, to allow parents to spend more time with their children. Many mothers are working mothers, and they often complain that they do not spend enough time with their children and are unable to take care of them. Thus, the government introduced the 5day workweek in 2004, and even extended the maternity leave from 3 months to 4 months in 2009. Furthermore, the Work-Life-Works (WOW! fund) encourages companies to have flexible working hours. With all these policies, the mothers can have more time with their children.



However, all though these policies are encouraging, many companies find it hard to implement these measures. Many companies do not employ pregnant mothers/working mothers due to the shortage of labour in the company. Thus, women that are working would rather choose not to have babies as once they get pregnant, they stand a high chance of being fired. Also, mothers that are career-minded will choose not to take leave for fear of affecting their performance at work and promotion.

2. Encouraging marriage

One measure the Singapore government has done is to set up matchmaking agencies and social networking sites to encourage young Singaporeans to get married. Nowadays, young singaporeans have a very hectic scheldule and have no time to socialize, other than in work. There are also an estimated 1 million people in singapore that are single. Thus, the government has created the Social Development Network (SDN) for young singles to meet new friends and eventually find a life partner to settle down and start a family. there are also websites like marriagecentral.sg under the National Family control which promotes happier and healthier marriages. This is an effective measure as singles can get together and find out their similar interests, etc. and eventually get married.

However, although this is a good measure, very little singles and young couples are responding to these networks. Women nowadays are highly educated, so they will first establish a career and are likely to get married at a later age, of worse, stay single. Also, singles might have high expectations of their partners or are not willing to change their carefree lifestyle. young couples might also be unwilling to start a family at such a young age. This is due to the high costs of living. HDB houses are not cheap and there are very limited numbers of HDB houses that are available. Hence, most young couples stay with their parents and do not want to have children because of the inconvenience. This will worsen singapore's already declining birth rate.

3. Foreign Immigration
The government's immigration policy helps to address the low population growth rate. People from all over the world are encouraged to come to Singapore to serve in areas where we are short of workers such as service industries and manufacturing. Foreign talent takes up about 1/4 of the singaporean population in 2010. These foreign talent set up businesses in Singapore, which allows s'poreans to benefit from them due to the rise in standard of living and availibility of jobs. This helped our economy to flourish despite the global recession in 2010. Thus, the immigration policy will be a good way to address the low population growth in Singapore.

However, many singaporeans feel that the foreign immigrants are a threat to them. The residents here are afraid that the immigrants will compete with them for jobs, and that they will lose out to the foreigners. The foreigners might also be using singapore as a stepping stone to other further countries in the future. Furthermore, in the 2010 census, the total fertility rate of these foreigners was even lower than that of singaporeans. This shows that, although the immigration policy might help to address the low population growth, it cannot be used in the long run.

4. Cash/monetary incentives

The government has successfully provided cash incentives to address the low birth rate in Singapore. Raising children is not easy as it requires a lot of expenses, time and it is a life long commitment. Thus, the government has introduced incentives to relive the burden of raising children. Cash incentives include the Baby bonus scheme, housing schemes, infant and childcare schemes and income tax rebates for working mothers. For example, the baby bonus scheme gives $4000 for the first and second child and $6000 for the third and fourth child. Furthermore, there is a dollar to dollar scheme for every amount the parent put into the child's CDA (child development account). Thus, this will help to relive the financial burden, and the parents will be encouraged to have more children due to the support that the government provides

Although the government has been providing cash incentives, not everybody is responding to this policy. Raising children is not an easy task and singles and young couples feel that they have better things to do like going out and enjoying themselves. Furthermore, women nowadays are educated and prefer career over children. Companies are also not willing to hire pregnant women because they might face a labour shortage should the women go on maternity leave. Hence, women do not give birth for fear of losing their job. Also, the income tax rebates and childcare subsidies only apply to working mothers. Thus, non-working mothers have to depend on a single income should they raise a child, so many choose not to have children. Thus, although the government has been providing cash incentives, it is not a very effective one as many are shunning it for their own career and enjoyment.