We all know the importance of inclusive economic growth. No growth in any country in the world is sustainable if it is also not inclusive. In other words, we cannot have growth where some segments of the society benefit while others do not or benefit very little from it. We know the consequences of such a lopsided growth. Over time, there will be loss of confidence and, in the end, everyone suffers. How can we hope to build a common identity, develop bonds among us and share a common dream if some among us cannot see much of a future?
However, by debating this motion today, we are not saying that nothing has been done and we only now awaken to this issue and are scrambling to put the pieces together. Far from it, many important pieces are already in place, some of which have already been extensively debated in this house, such as the WIS and the WTS, which benefits low income, low skilled Singaporeans. In addition, social assistance programmes are firmly entrenched whether it involves housing, medical or education.
The challenge of ensuring that growth is inclusive is not confined to Singapore only. In my work at the International Labour Organisation, this is an issue that every country in the world has been grappling with. The ILO even set up a high level committee on the Social Dimensions of Globalisation, which focuses on how to make globalization fairer. The committee identified globalization as a factor which can create opportunites but, if not managed properly, can also result in serious income disparities. One of its key recommendations is for countries to invest heavily in education and skills upgrading, so that everyone can benefit from the opportunities provided by globalization. Long before this ILO report, Singapore has already adopted this approach, and has made extensive investments in training and skills upgrading for our workers, so that they can enjoy higher incomes with higher skill jobs.
Let me now share with this house on our efforts in helping one important segment of our society and, that is, the homemakers who want to return to work. Last year, our female employment rate rose from 69.4% (in 2009) to 71.7% (in 2010) for the 25-54 age group. This is good progress and we want to reach out to more. The majority of our economically inactive women or in MOM surveys cited family responsibilities as the reason for their inactivity. I must stress that ultimately it is up to the women and their families to decide whether or not they should work. But the most important thing in my view is that we must give these women the choice to decide for themselves. To me, this is the essence of inclusive growth where everyone counts, everyone belongs and everyone deserves a chance. And we all know that ensuring inclusive growth cannot just be the work of the government alone but that everyone has a part to play.
Recognising the importance of focused and targeted programmes to help women return to the workforce, the NTUC Women’s Development Secretariat started a programme called Back to Work in 2007. To date, we have helped more than 8000 women to return to work. Let me share with you the story of Mdm Leong Yoke Har who is 48 years old and has two children aged 15 and 18 years old. In 2001, she left her job in order to look after her kids but decided to re-enter the workforce when her youngest turned 14, and with the encouragement of her husband. After being a housewife for 10 years and having lost touch with the workplace, she found it difficult to return to work. She approached the NTUC Back to Work programme and we arranged job interviews for her. She is now happily employed as a full time receptionist with PASS Employment Services earning $1600.
Another example involves someone who had left the workforce in order to take care of an ageing parent, a growing challenge in our society as women are still the main caregivers and our population is ageing rapidly. In her 40s, she was working in Singtel as a customer service officer. But in 2003 she had to leave her job in order to take care of her parent. She decided to re-enter the workforce in 2010 for financial reasons. She approached the NTUC Back to Work programme and we helped to place her in a company called OneBerry as an account cum payroll assistant earning $1500.
Our Back to Work programme is based on 3Rs. The first R is recruitment, where we help to place women who are essentially job ready and could be placed into jobs immediately, as in the case of the two examples which I had cited earlier. The second R is readjustment, where we help to prepare women to be skills ready, thereby enhancing their employment chances. The third R is retention, where we work closely with companies to restructure jobs and make them more flexible so that women can balance work and family and do not drop out of the workforce. Ms Zuraini is one person who has benefitted from our Flexi Works efforts. Ms Zuraini was working with Cherie Hearts since 2002 where she was employed as an AVP in the IT department. However, in 2009 when her son was taking his PSLE, she decided that she had to spend more time at home. It was at this point that Cherie Hearts decided to tap on the Flexi Works funding which is administered by the NTUC WDS in order to help them make the necessary changes to work so that employees like Zuraini could work part-time or telecommute. Ms Zuraini was subsequently promoted to the post of VP in charge of a larger portfolio. This shows that flexible work arrangements can in fact boost performance and productivity.
We will continue to ramp up efforts to help more women who are re-entering the workforce through targeted programmes. We do not wait for the women to reach out to us. Last year, we even did a pilot outreach programme to engage women living in the rental flats in Ang Mo Kio. Our Back to Work team went knocking from door to door to speak to the women and inform them about the jobs that are available. Another approach is mindset and sectoral training programmes, to prepare the women for jobs in particular sectors so that there is a better job fit. Yet another interesting approach is to ask the companies not only to conduct interviews at the workplace but also to allow the women to watch and experience first hand how work is being done, so that they will be more open and receptive to different kinds of jobs. For example, some women shun working in kitchens because they think of these places as hot and stuffy, but they realize that this is far from the truth when they are able to observe first hand how work is being done.
Moving ahead, I urge the government to continue doing more in the following areas so that more women can work and take advantage of the opportunities and ensure that our economic growth continues to be inclusive:
a. Firstly, ensure that there is sufficient and affordable social support infrastructure such as child care and kindergarten services, as well as eldercare services, as women are still the main caregivers in our society. One reason why the Scandinavian countries have such a high female labour force participation rate is because child care facilities are so accessible, so much so that in Denmark, for instance, almost 90% of the children below the age of five are in child care. We now have the KIFAS and CFAC schemes which provide highly subsidized child care and kindergarten services to children from low income families. Currently, the family income limit for access to subsidized care in KIFAS or CFAC is $1800. To enable more women to go out to work, this income ceiling could be increased to $2500 so that with more women working, their family incomes would increase. With our rapidly ageing population, we will see increasing numbers who have to live at home to take care of their elderly parents. Hence, we also have to ensure that there are adequate and affordable elder care support services to free more women to go out to work.
b. Secondly, encourage more companies to adopt telecommuting and LCT leveraged home based work. Singapore is a highly wired up country with at least 80% of the households having broadband access, yet the number of people telecommuting or working at home either fully or partly, is very low. Think of all those who could not commute daily to work such as housewives, retirees, and people with disabilities and many others with special needs. Imagine how much more inclusive our society could become if only they could have access to productive, paid work because they could work from home. Imagine, too, if many more women who currently have to stay at home because of childcare or eldercare obligations could have access to paid work through telecommuting, how many more women could re-enter the workforce, how much more inclusive our society would be and how much less dependent we would be on foreign workers?
c. Thirdly, according to an MOM survey only one in five of the economically inactive women have upper secondary education or above. This means that most would need retraining, particularly in literacy and numeracy skills before they could re-enter the workforce. One possible solution would be to have numeracy and literacy courses conducted at community clubs so that these women would be able to acquire the basic foundation skills needed to land them in jobs or for other forms of training but in centres close to their homes and at their own pace.
On this note, Sir, I support the motion.
