This post was originally published as a press release on 20 February 2017. 

This afternoon’s Budget speech by Minister of Finance Heng Swee Keat sought to set out directions for the future economy, but could have done substantially more to tackle the significant issue of the care economy in the face of an ageing population, said the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE).

“Neither the Budget nor the Committee for the Future Economy directly addressed the critical impact of caregiving pressures on the economy, or how to systematically support the people – usually women – who perform it,” said Jolene Tan, Head of Advocacy & Research at AWARE. “This pressure will grow as the needs of older people in particular increase significantly in years to come.”

“In our pre-Budget recommendations, both AWARE and NTUC specifically highlighted female labour force participation as an area requiring greater governmental investment,” said Jolene Tan.  “AWARE was disappointed that the Minister did not touch on this expressly, despite acknowledging the need to look at the labour force in a granular way.”

When women are pushed out of the labour force by caregiving pressures, this harms their economic well-being, imposes costs on businesses – due to lost talent and turnover – and sets the stage for future financial inadequacy on retirement, with all its attendant social costs.

Support for older people

While the Minister offered increased support for the employment of older workers, AWARE urges a more explicit recognition that longer-term financial and care needs for older people cannot be met by opportunities for paid work alone.  We hope to see the Government look more into developing long-term care, facilitating caregiving through measures such as eldercare leave, and building on non-contributory schemes such as Silver Support.

Support for housing

The Minister also announced increased grants for first-timers – particularly married couples – purchasing HDB flats, a policy intended to support families.  Yet there was a missed opportunity to consider the housing needs of single parents – whether unmarried, divorced or widowed.  These families, as highlighted in AWARE’s recently released study, face barriers in obtaining stable, secure homes, with serious implications for the welfare and social mobility of their children.

“Resources should not only be invested in housing to encourage people to have more children,” said Jolene Tan.  “It is also important to address the current unmet needs of existing families, and children who are already among us.”

Support for childcare

The announcement of increased infantcare capacity is very welcome.  We urge the Government to also do more to improve the affordability of childcare, and in particular to reassess the preconditions of infantcare subsidies (as discussed in our Recommendations).  When work is a precondition for subsidies, this sets up a chicken-and-egg barrier to women’s employment – since childcare is often a precondition for finding and keeping employment.

Similar issues affect the success of skills upgrading programmes – women with childcare responsibilities cannot benefit from such programmes if they do not have alternative care in place.  This can limit the effectiveness of skills upgrading initiatives.  We thus welcome the announcement of shorter, more modular skills courses and urge the Government to closely assess the accessibility of such programmes for those with caregiving responsibilities.

Support for persons with disabilities and mental health conditions

We welcome the announcement that more moves will be made to address barriers faced by persons with disabilities, and those with mental health conditions, in the area of employment.  We also welcome, as a step in the right direction, the news of more initiatives to support caregivers of persons with disabilities. We hope that the government will closely monitor the impact of the services provided by the Support Centre and expand their availability as needed.

Read our recommendations for the 2017 national Budget here. (Click here to read the accompanying press release).