How to improve a constant low birthrate in Singapore and Hong Kong - BIPO
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February 2019 Issue
How to improve a constant low
birthrate in Singapore and Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, unlike mainland China, there are no restrictions like family planning while maternity allowance is provided.
However, the birthrate in HK has been among the lowest ones in the world for many years. According to government statis-
tics, the crude birth rate in HK in 2017 is 7.7%, which is nearly half of 13% in 1986 and is close to the lowest 7% in 2003.
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that with the workforce declining in the next 30 years, the “demographic divi-
dend” will be gone and negative population growth might occur. The population policy needs to be people-oriented because
it plays a crucial part in Hong Kong’s economic and social development and is closely related to its long-term competitiveness.
There should be no upper limit for Hong Kong’s population.
In order to encourage childbirth, the Hong Kong government has introduced a series of policies in recent years, hoping to raise
the current low birthrate.
Paternity leave extended from 3 days to 5 days
Paternity leave is a statutory holiday for working men. It has been a frequently-discussed issue in recent years whether the man is entitled to a
holiday to accompany his partner if his partner is to give birth. At present, the paternity leave is effective in more than 40 countries and regions
in the world, which lasts for 3 to 10 days.
Paternity leave, which lasts for three days, was officially put into effect by the Hong Kong Government on February 27, 2015 after years of
discussion. Qualified civil servants will be allowed a five-day paternity leave with full pay.
On October 25, 2018, Employment (Amendment) Bill 2018 was put through by the Hong Kong Legislative Council after being given three read-
ings, which extended paternity leave to five days.
It is stated in the ordinance that paternity leave entitlement will be extended to 5 days if a child of a male employee employed under a continu-
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ous contract was born on or after 18 January 2019 and the employer is notified in accordance with the statutory requirements.
A spokesman of the Labour Department said that employees who wish to take paternity leaves should notify the employer. If the employee
has notified employer of his intention to take paternity leave at least three months before the expected date of birth, he is entitled to take
immediate leave on the actual paternity leave date. If the employee does not give the employer a three-month advance notice, he must notify
the employer of the exact date of his paternity leave at least five days before the actual date.
Also, the spokesman reminded that in the transition period, for an employee who has a child born on or after January 18, 2019, if he has noti-
fied the employer in advance before the commencement of the Amendment Ordinance that he intends to take maternity leave (a 3-day leave)
and wants to take his fourth and fifth day of paternity leave, he must notify the employer of the exact date at least five days in advance before
taking the leave.
Female maternity leave recommended to be extended from 10 weeks to 14 weeks
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam delivered her second policy address on October 10, 2018, announcing that the legal maternity leave in
Hong Kong will be extended from 10 weeks to 14 weeks, with additional expenses during the new four-week borne by the government. The
expenses are expected to reach about 500 million Hong Kong dollars a year.
Lam mentioned that employers can apply to the government for money payed to female employees of a new four-week maternity leave, which
is capped at HK$36822. This means the payment of an extra four-week maternity leave to employees with monthly income of HK$50,000 or less
will be undertaken by the government. She also said that the government will extend the maternity leave of all female government employees to
14 weeks immediately and that all government employees whose date of birth or due date is today or after will instantly benefit from this policy.
Hong Kong introduced a 10-week unpaid maternity leave in 1970 and revised it in 1981, asking employers to provide maternity leave with pay
equivalent to two-thirds of the average salary of employees. The proportion was increased to four-fifths in 1995 and no adjustments were made
after that.
Hong Kong maternity leave requires 4 weeks beforehand (four weeks before the expected date of birth) and 6 weeks after. Many Hong Kong
women feel that the four weeks before the date of birth is too long and the six weeks after the birth is too short because they have to let go
when the baby is only one and a half months old. Therefore, many would like to change the schedule to 2 weeks beforehand and 8 weeks after.
In addition to time issues, Hong Kong women have only 80% of their salary during maternity leave, and there is no childcare leave or childcare
allowance, so that more and more newlyweds move to “Dink”.
The extension shows that the Hong Kong government is working to address the declining birthrate and a deteriorating aging problem in Hong
Kong.
Not only is Hong Kong facing the problem of an aging society and a falling fertility year by year, many countries are also facing
the same problem. Singapore, which is at the bottom of the fertility rate, is also suffering from the problems of fertility and
aging. Although the government has offered incentives for fertility, it is difficult to receive expected results because the eco-
nomic incentives are not enough to change young people’s cultural concepts.
Singapore’s fertility rate is at the bottom 10 in the world in recent years.
According to data released by CIA in December 2017, the average number that women of childbearing age (15-49 years old) give birth to in
Singapore is only 0.83 children. The official birth data for 2017 is 1.16, which is far lower than the standard of 2.1 children. Singapore has the
lowest birthrate in the world.
(among the five lowest birthrate countries in 224 countries and regions in the world)
In the face of a low fertility rate and rapid aging, the Singapore government has launched a series of fertility incentives.
1. Maternity Leave
Professional women have 16 weeks of government paid maternity leave (GPML). The first eight weeks of salary is paid by the company, and the
second 8 weeks of salary is paid by the government. When the third child was born, the salary will be fully paid by the government. However,
professional women need to meet certain requirements in order to obtain maternity leave:
* Children must be Singapore citizens;
* Married to the child’s father during pregnancy and childbirth;
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* For employees, they should have worked in the company for at least three months before giving birth;
* For self-employed and individuals, they should have worked for at least three months before giving birth, and have no income during maternity
leave.
2 “working mother” subsidy
If the mother is a professional woman, the child’s childcare expenses will be reduced by half. Working mothers can apply for tax exemption (such
as personal income tax, maid tax, etc.) multiple times for 50,000 (equivalent to 248,000 yuan) Singapore dollars at most for one child.
3 Paternity Leave
Singapore not only gives maternity leave to women, but also gives male parental leave fully paid. Qualified working men will have 2 weeks of
government paid paternity leave (GPPL), which is borne by the Singapore government. They need to meet following criteria:
* Children must be Singapore citizens;
* Married to the child’s mother during pregnancy and childbirth;
* For employees, they should have worked at the company for at least three months before their wives give birth;
* For self-employed and individuals, they should have worked for at least three months before their wives give birth and is has no income during
paternity leave.
* The upper limit of monthly salary is S$2,500 (including CPF)
The Singapore government also sponsors marriage service corporations and social centers, hoping to help domestic single men and women find
their lovers.
BIPO Hong Kong New year meal to mark a great start
On February 13th, BIPO Hong Kong had their meal together for the first
time in 2019. Lo hei, a popular dish in Hong Kong, was prepared for the
meal to mark a good start of the year.
The reason why Lo hei became a popular new year dish for family gath-
erings and restaurants recently is that it carries the intention of getting
better. Another reason is that fish in the Cantonese New Year dishes rep-
resents abundance. These two meanings meet people’s wishes for a pros-
perous future. Even the older generations love this dish.
After this delightful meal, BIPO is going to usher in a new year full of chal-
lenges. We sincerely hope a bright future for BIPO.
About Us
BIPO is a leading one-stop human resources provider in Asia Pacific, focused on providing organisations with innovative ways to manage complex
end-to-end HR processes. Through our cloud and mobile-based Human Resources Management system as well as industry-leading solutions such
as Payroll Outsourcing, Attendance Automation, Business Intelligence, HR Consulting, Recruitment & Business Process Outsourcing and Flexible
Employee Management, we help companies transform their HR operations to and beyond their expectations, while achieving business goals rela-
ted to cost and profitability.
Founded in 2004, our APAC headquarters is in Singapore and R&D centre in Indonesia. We have offices in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan,
New Zealand, Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Thailand with business links in over 10 countries and regions.
info@biposervice.com
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