This article was originally published in TODAY Voices on 14 December 2017. 

AWARE supports recent calls made in the media to provide family caregivers with a caregiver allowance.

Many women who leave the workforce for family caregiving during their prime working years do not have enough for retirement and healthcare needs. CPF is premised on individual earnings and does not support caregivers who perform unpaid labour for a substantial part of their lives. Voluntary transfers from the employed spouse are insufficient.

It is sometimes argued that this problem will be solved over time as younger women have higher levels of education compared to older generations. However, younger women continue to be disproportionately responsible for caregiving, at the expense of individual financial security. In 2016, 78% of prime working age women (25-55) outside the labour force were not working because of family responsibilities. Over 260,000 are outside the labour force for this reason, dwarfing the number of men (under 10,000).

Gender inequality clearly persists due to gender norms around care, despite women’s access to education. Among unemployed degree holders, four times as many women as men left their previous job due to family responsibilities. Within all educational strata, gender norms around care impact on women disproportionately.

Currently, the Silver Support scheme provides payouts for individuals in retirement age based on an assessment of lifetime CPF accumulation. It recognises that those unable to accumulate earnings require collective support, including those who left paid employment to provide the unpaid labour of caregiving. However, the Silver Support only provides up to $250 month, which is not sufficient to meet average monthly basic expenditures.

In contrast, a caregiver allowance would helpfully front-load the payout across the lifecourse, before an individual becomes old and impoverished. This would not only improve the welfare of the recipient, reducing anxieties about retirement, but would also help to reduce other potential costs. For example, an allowance would support earlier access to healthcare for those with little Medisave, which can avert more expensive treatment later.

We have also found that many divorced mothers experience housing instability, partly because they sacrifice paid work for caregiving and subsequently struggle to afford housing with low CPF balances. Material support for their caregiving work would help to avoid this outcome. Stable housing in turn facilitates access to work, children’s education, and positive relationships with local community, while housing instability generates negative social consequences that  impact beyond the affected individual.

A caregiver allowance should not pose an undue fiscal burden, because the recipients of such social investments – in cash or CPF credits – will have higher levels of savings accumulated at retirement. This will reduce their entitlement to Silver Support payouts and general need for financial support at a later stage in life. As it is, lack of timely support for caregivers is already costing society in terms of reduced economic participation in the labour market. We cannot afford to ignore this issue with the increased care needed for our rapidly ageing population.