00:00Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has announced a package of child care benefits to support families
00:05as the Lion City grapples with a record low birth rate and rising concerns over the cost and pressures of
00:11raising children.
00:12Wong used his National Day rally speech to announce that each child will receive the equivalent of about 55,000
00:20US dollars
00:20in direct assistance through age 17.
00:23Ross, just to put it out there, this is not a new problem, it's a long-standing problem.
00:28Singapore's always seen the replacement rate, below replacement rate for the last 50 years, but it's close to becoming a
00:35crisis.
00:36Well that's right, it's actually hitting those historic lows, as you say 0.87, which is far below the rate
00:42you need to replace yourself on a generational basis.
00:46And the government, as you say, has been attuned to this for a long time.
00:49If you look back, Prime Ministers in Singapore have been talking about this for 25, 26 years or more.
00:55The trend remains despite all these policies over the years, but the government seems to be quite pragmatic at least.
01:03You see the comments from Lawrence Wong, he recognises this is not a silver bullet, he's not expecting things to
01:08shift significantly in the short term,
01:11but over the long term again, can you just make it easier for people when they're considering having children,
01:16or having more than one child to do so.
01:19And so really the focus of these policies on things like expanding childcare leave significantly.
01:24And that's important also for working parents, especially if both parents are working.
01:30Now to make it cheaper, you know, to cut the fees for subsidised childcare, for example.
01:35Again, make it easier for parents to keep working.
01:37Of course, there is the question for companies and all of this, because childcare leave is really going to increase.
01:43But the government seems to be saying on a pragmatic basis in the longer term,
01:46let's see if we can just stabilise the rate, if nothing else.
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