Women and Work

• 54% of women of working age are in the work force = in 2005 there were 941,500 women in wf. ( ST 22 Feb. 2007)
• 200,000 housewives and 400,000 under age 20 are not covered under medishield (23 Feb 2007)
• 7 out of 10 older workers (55+) are in low-skilled jobs

ST : March 10 2007

• 318,561 female homemakers
• 270,092 retired people
• In 2005, graduate working wives provided 46% of a couples average combined income
• For couples with dual income of less than $1,000, 59% had wives contributing at least half of that
• 18% ( 57,073) housewives have post-secondary education and higher in 2005
• in 1990 this figure was 3.1%(10,808)

Women and Family/Fertility

Singapore Women's Pregnancy Survey 2007 : (Today March 5, 2007) –

A joint study by the SouthWest Development Council (CDC) and the Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society of Singapore : surveyed 268 female residents (age16-60) living in the CDC.
42% married; the rest single; 66% had tertiary education.

• One in four women in the reproductive age group does not intend to have a child
• 44% of women without tertiary education did not plan to have children
• 70.5% with tertiary education were keen to have children
• 56.4 % of women with secondary and primary education wanted children
• 31.8% with tertiary education suffered from pregnancy-related depression
• 16.4% with secondary education suffered from pregnancy-related depression
• 67% of those who did not want children cited reluctance to change their current lifestyle as the reason
• 20% quoted financial difficulties

MediShield

• 77% of the population or about 2.8 million are subscribe to MediShield (ST 23 Feb 2007)
• In 2020 – greying pop = ½ million aged 65 and above (ST 23rd Feb 2007)

Older workers

• Aged 55-59 - 51.6% of older workers in 1996
• - 60.6% 2006
• Aged 60-64 –30.6% 1996
• 41.9% 2006
• 8 out of 19 are in service sector

ST : March 10 2007

• only 4 in 10 active CPF members, who turned 55 in 2005 had the minimum sum of $90,000 in their CPF in 2006
• currently 3 out 0f 5 people aged 55-59 are employed
• and 2 out of 5 aged 60-64 are employed

ST : March 9 2007

• In 5 years there will be 62,000 more jobless older workers
• Current – 162,840 – 224,940 jobless
• Workers aged between 55 and 64 46% are jobless

ST : March 11 2007

GST rise 5% to 7%

• Tharman Shanmugaratnam : bottom 20% of homes spend one-third of their funds on housing, education and health care for which the government absorbs the GST.
• Only 14% of their budget is spent on essential items like oil, rice and uncooked food.

Gender Pay Gap

Weekend Today : March 3-4, 2007

An IMF survey of more than 40 rich and poor countries found that gender divides reduced economic growth while economic growth tends to narrow the gap between sexes.

In Singapore:

• average monthly pay for women : 76% to that of men in 1997
• since 1988 till 2055 it has been around 72%

Divorce rates 

ST : March 7th 2007

1985 : 2,344 cases tripled in 2005 to 6,909 cases

Between 1996 and 2005 25,000 children under 18 have seen their parents divorced