Speech by Minister Josephine Teo on Population at the Committee of Supply Debate 2020

Theme: Singaporeans at the Heart of Our Population Policies

Thank you, Mr Chairman. I appreciate the views and suggestions of Members on matters concerning our population.

Our policies aim to help Singapore maintain a stable population, to keep our society cohesive, our economy vibrant, and our nation strong. Population policies are not just for today, but tomorrow. We are always thinking about future generations of Singaporeans.

I will focus on two areas: first, making Singapore a great place for families; second, integrating immigrants into our Singapore community.

Making Singapore a Great Place for Families

We aim, first and foremost, to support young Singaporeans to get married and become parents.

Similar to most developed economies, our total fertility rate is below replacement – at 1.14 for last year and the year before. Globally, many countries are like Singapore, where birth rates have been declining since the 1970s. Some Nordic countries that had previously reversed the decline, have seen birth rates falling again in recent years.

However, there are some positive signs in Singapore:

• The average number of citizen births in the last five years is higher than previous five-year periods. From 2015 to 2019, we had around 33,000 births annually. This is higher than the average from 2010 to 2014, of around 32,000 births annually. I believe Mr Alex Yam, Mr Desmond Choo, Mr Christopher de Souza, Mr Louis Ng, Ms Rahayu Mahzam, Ms Sun Xueling, perhaps Mr Pritam Singh as well, all contributed to this. Thank you very much. Please keep going.

• On top of this, as some Singaporeans live overseas, we welcomed about 1,600 Singaporean babies born overseas each year, over the past five years. This is also higher than the average in previous five-year periods. So to Ms Sun Xueling’s question, it is not incompatible – your overseas ambitions and raising a family – this can be done.

• Similarly, the average number of citizen marriages in the last five years is higher than previous five-year periods.

I hope these positive trends will continue as more young Singaporeans enter their prime marriage and parenthood ages. But we will need to continue tackling the factors that shape marriage and parenthood decisions – together not just as a Government, but as one Singapore.

At the Committee of Supply debate last year, I indicated that we would embark on a consultation process, to better understand Singaporeans’ needs and concerns around forming families.

• The aim was to move beyond feedback and suggestions, to work with fellow Singaporeans on practical ways to address marriage and parenthood issues. This is what the Singapore Together movement is all about.

• We are heartened that many Singaporeans stepped forward to take part.

We launched a series of online polls, inviting Singaporeans to give suggestions on how to better support young families.

• As Mr Christopher de Souza and Ms Sun Xueling mentioned, Singaporeans believe that making Singapore a great place for families requires partnerships across society¹.

• At home, most Singaporeans viewed parenting as a shared responsibility between spouses.

• At the workplace, Singaporeans felt that having supportive bosses and understanding colleagues were critical factors that enabled them to meet their work and family commitments.

• Respondents also raised concerns about the cost of having children.

We have listened carefully to their views. Last year, we announced significant enhancements to support young families.

With your permission, Mr Chairman, may I ask the Clerks to distribute a booklet showing the key marriage and parenthood benefits today?

Mr Christopher De Souza and Mr Desmond Choo asked how these enhancements have benefitted young Singaporean families. Let me elaborate on three major moves.

First, couples can now more easily enrol their child in an affordable and good quality preschool.

• We have increased the amount of preschool subsidies, and made them available to even more families. Today, after subsidies, a working couple who earn a combined $5,000 a month, pays $130 per month per child for full-day childcare at an Anchor Operator² preschool. This is about a third of what they would have paid previously.

• To ensure that quality preschools are accessible to all families, we have kept fees affordable at all Government-supported preschools; fee caps for Partner Operator preschools will also come down next year.

• In addition, ECDA has been growing the number of preschool places. By around 2025, eight in 10 preschoolers can have a place in a government-supported preschool, up from just over five in 10 today.

• In the medium term, we aim to make full-day childcare at government-supported preschools as affordable as the cost of primary school plus afterschool student care. This is not even including means-tested preschool subsidies, which will allow low- and middle-income families to pay even less.

• At the same time, we will ensure good quality learning and care across all preschools.

• These are significant steps that we are taking, to ensure that we continue to give every Singaporean child a good start in life.

Second, housing is now more affordable for newly married couples.

• We have heard couples’ feedback on the importance of getting their own home before starting a family. We have made it faster for them to get a BTO flat. HDB has launched more than 3,600 BTO flats with shorter waiting times. The wait of about two and a half years is shorter than the usual three to four years.

• Couples can also more easily own a flat with the Enhanced CPF Housing Grant (EHG). First-timer families now receive up to $80,000 in grants when purchasing a new HDB flat, and up to $160,000 when purchasing an HDB resale flat. Since its inception, about 1,000 first-timer families have benefitted from the EHG.

• In addition, the income ceiling was raised. More couples are able to purchase subsidised HDB flats and Executive Condominiums.

Third, we improved the affordability of healthcare for children, and fertility treatments.

• By the end of this year, every Singaporean child will enjoy subsidies for all nationally recommended childhood vaccinations and developmental screenings, at Polyclinics as well as CHAS GP clinics. The Minister for Health will share more details at MOH’s Committee of Supply debate.

• We have also enhanced government co-funding for assisted conception procedures, to better support couples who need them.

These enhancements reinforce our strong support for marriage and parenthood in Singapore. They have also been well-received by many Singaporeans.

Ms Rahayu Mahzam was concerned that many Singaporeans find it a challenge to balance work and family. Mr Christopher de Souza asked whether there would be further enhancements based on feedback received.

• We have been working on ways to help families achieve better harmony in work and life, including whether to have longer leave for parents. At present, working couples have a combined total of 20 weeks of paid parental leave and two weeks of unpaid leave in their child’s first year. In addition, each parent receives six days of paid childcare leave annually until their child turns seven, and two days of paid childcare leave until the child turns 12.

• We announced the three-year Public Sector pilot on Unpaid Infant Care Leave in 2017. The pilot enables public officers to take up to four weeks of Unpaid Infant Care Leave in the first year after their child’s birth.

• This benefit has been well-received by parents who need it. Their supervisors and colleagues have also been supportive, and feel that it has not affected their teams’ productivity.

• As such, we will formalise it as a permanent HR leave provision within the Public Service. We hope that more private companies will be encouraged by the Public Service’s positive experience, and initiate similar support to their employees.

There have been calls from time to time, including from Mr Louis Ng, to further enhance leave schemes for parents. We will continuously review all support measures for parenthood. We had prioritised housing, preschool and healthcare because these were what young families said mattered most.

Of course, when conditions allow, young families would welcome more paid leave being mandated. However, it would be unwise for us to ignore the impact on employers. While the public sector is in a position to do more than current legislation requires, we cannot assume the same for all businesses, especially SMEs, which are the single largest group of employers and already facing manpower constraints.

In the face of economic uncertainties and the pressure for businesses to transform, tripartite partners are also mindful not to add further to employers’ burdens. Instead of imposing higher obligations on all, we will provide greater support to businesses that are able to do more, such as supporting them in implementing flexible work arrangements (FWAs). After all, working parents have consistently given us feedback that FWAs are key in supporting them to manage work and family commitments. I should add that when companies implement FWAs, other employees who are not parents also benefit. They tend to feel a greater sense of fairness. For example, some don’t have young children but have elderly parents who from time to time have medical appointments that they need to take them to.

As it turns out, a focus on promoting FWAs was also the preference of the Citizens’ Panel convened last year. The Panel brought together 55 fellow Singaporeans of diverse backgrounds to develop ways to improve work-life harmony in Singapore. I was heartened by their enthusiasm and commitment to build a future Singapore that would be more supportive of work-life harmony.

• The Panel recommended thoughtful solutions, such as promoting FWAs, and introducing more progressive HR practices. These would help employees, especially those with more caregiving responsibilities, to better juggle their family life and work.

• Ms Sun Xueling and Mr Desmond Choo will be glad to know that both younger and older Singaporeans in the Panel called for wider societal change to address social norms that affect work-life harmony, and for shifts in workplace practices.

• The Government and tripartite partners fully support the Panel’s intent to create conditions for better work-life harmony, and will do so by “making it easy”, “making it known” and “making it accepted”. Let me elaborate.

  • “Making it easy” – We will introduce new tools and guides to facilitate the adoption of FWAs and work-life harmony initiatives by employers and employees.

  • “Making it known” – We will increase the recognition of employers who adopt FWAs and work-life initiatives. Senior Parliamentary Secretary Low Yen Ling will provide more details on these moves at MOM’s Committee of Supply debate.

  • “Making it accepted” – We will work together to shift societal norms and the mindsets of employers, employees, and individuals in the larger community. MCCY will provide support through Our Singapore Fund, for Singaporeans who wish to organise meaningful projects that encourage these shifts.

• I hope these efforts will rally Singaporeans to work together, towards a more family-friendly society.

Supporting marriage and parenthood is the Government’s top priority for the population. Our policies and enhancements over the years attest to that.

However, I agree with Mr Alex Yam that beyond policy, a whole of society approach is needed to build a family-friendly Singapore. For instance, when we see parents with young children struggling with their prams in public spaces, do we step forward to lend a helping hand? When a colleague goes on paternity leave, do we say supportive words of encouragement, or do we cast aspersions on this necessity? Quite often, it is societal values, workplace and cultural norms that determine whether raising a family is achievable, enjoyable and celebrated.

Integrating Immigrants into our Singapore Society

Let me turn now to immigration matters, which Dr Lim Wee Kiak raised. This is a delicate issue in many places around the world.

With current birth rates and as our society ages, our citizen population will likely decline. For many years now, we have taken in a carefully controlled number of new citizens each year to keep the citizen population stable over the long term. As immigrants are mostly from younger age groups, this also helps to moderate our pace of ageing.

The Government has kept the pace of immigration calibrated, in line with our commitments. Over the past five years,

• We granted about 22,100 new Singapore citizenships on average each year³.

• We also granted about 31,700 Permanent Residencies on average each year. We have kept the total size of the PR population at around half a million for many years now.

It is not easy to become a new citizen or PR. Many applications are rejected. We have high expectations of those who join our community. Newcomers who want to make Singapore their home have the responsibility to adapt to our way of life, and must continue to contribute to our society and economy.

One good example is Mr Trieu Dang Huy, who works as a senior projects executive at Singapore Airlines. He has lived in Singapore for 14 years, and became a Singapore citizen last year.

• When Mr Trieu first moved here, he took it upon himself to learn English, Mandarin, and Singlish – so much so that when he speaks now, it’s hard to tell that he was originally from Vietnam.

• Mr Trieu met his wife while studying at NUS. Together, they believe it is important to contribute to society, and donate blood regularly.

• They also have a young son, who is Singaporean.

• Members of this House would know of other examples.

Mr Pritam Singh and Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked how we can ensure that newcomers make an effort to integrate into our society. The National Integration Council is doing a lot of commendable work on this front in the community, workplaces, and schools.

• Let me just highlight one new initiative. As part of the Singapore Together movement, we are inviting Singaporeans to help craft the content for the Singapore Citizenship Journey – a compulsory programme for all who seek to take up Singapore citizenship. I am happy that many have stepped forward.

• This will complement our existing efforts. For example, the People’s Association appoints Integration and Naturalisation Champions to help new citizens and PRs settle into their neighbourhoods. They organise chit-chat sessions, interest groups, and learning journeys to nudge newcomers to make friends and get involved in the community.

• We continue to welcome Singaporeans’ views on how we can help newcomers better integrate into our society.

Singaporeans at the Heart of our Population Policies

As we start the new decade, the Government remains committed to working with Singaporeans to keep Singaporeans at the heart of our population policies.

Mr Pritam Singh asked for an update on our population outlook. We reviewed this two years ago. As I informed the House then, our total population in 2030 – at the end of this decade – is likely to be significantly below 6.9 million. This remains the case today.

Mr Chairman, on population matters, there are no easy solutions.

• But the Government will do its best to chart a way forward that keeps our society cohesive and our economy vibrant.

• We will always have Singaporeans’ best interests at heart, now and in the future, and we will never stop progressing as one united people.

¹ About three in four respondents in our “Play-A-Part” surveys see parenting as a shared responsibility between spouses. More than nine in ten survey respondents said that having supportive bosses and understanding colleagues were very important in helping them meet their work and family responsibilities.

² The Government provides funding support for centres under the Anchor Operator and Partner Operator schemes to provide quality, accessible and affordable preschools. These centres have to keep their fees within the caps set by the Government. Anchor Operator fee caps are kept at $720 (before GST), and Partner Operator fee caps will be lowered from $800 to $760 (before GST) in January 2021.

³ This includes the roughly 1,600 children born overseas to Singaporean parents every year.