新加坡总理宣布育儿补贴包以应对低生育率

Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has announced a package of childcare benefits to support families as the Line City grapples with a record low birth rate and rising concerns over the cost and pressures of raising children. Wong used his National Day Rally speech to announce that each child will receive the equivalent of about 55,000 U.S. dollars in direct assistance through age 17. Bloomberg Chief Asia correspondent Roslyn Matheson joins us now.

Just to put it out there. This is not a new problem. It's a longstanding problem. Singapore has always seen the replacement rate below replacement rate for the last 50 years, but it's close to becoming a crisis. Well that's right. It's actually hitting those historic lows, as you say, 0.87, which is far below the rate you need to replace yourself on a generational basis. And the government, you say, has been attuned to this for for a long time.

If you look back, prime ministers in Singapore have been talking about this for 25, 26 years or more, recognizing the challenge. You've got that double whammy that you know many countries do, which is a declining younger population, a shrinking local workforce as a result, and a much, you know, ballooning elderly population and all the kind of challenges that brings in terms of social, economic Challenges. And so they're very attuned to that.

The question is what, if anything, can you do about it? It seems to be a recognition. If you look back 25 years, it was more about programs that would foster matchmaking, trying to encourage people to meet, meet young and get married, and recognizing, you know, that people tend to get married later, so you meet them where they are and you try to get to that point. You know, they are thinking about having children. You're going to make it financially easier for them, at least to do so.

I guess the question is, will it work? Because we've seen at least the last three prime ministers, you know, implementing missions to to encourage people to have more children. You know, it is quite difficult, as you say, the trend remains despite all these policies over the years. But the government seems to be quite pragmatic. At least you see the comments from Lawrence Wong. He recognizes this is not a silver bullet.

He's not expecting things to shift significantly in the short term. But over the long term, again, can you just make it easier for people when they are considering having children or having more than one child to do so? And so really, the focus of these policies on things like expanding child care leave significantly. And that's important also for working parents, especially if both parents are working now to make it cheaper, you know, to cut the fees for subsidized childcare, for example.

Again, make it easier for parents to keep working. Of course, there is the question for companies and all of this because child care is really going to increase. But the government seems to be saying on a pragmatic basis in the longer term, let's see if we can just stabilize the rate. If nothing else, we will begin to see a shrinkage in the population by 2040 is a numbers persist. I'm just wondering if immigration could be the way to go for the country.

Well, it's a question for a lot of countries. You have that shrinking domestic population. Just in terms of the replacement with babies is how much can you bring in in terms of immigration and what what what sectors do you bring them into? Is it very much a focus on skilled immigration, or do you have a highly skilled, localized workforce? And therefore you need people to come in for other kinds of work? And you see that debate across many countries in the region.

I mean, obviously in North Asia as well, Japan, Korea, you see it not just Singapore. And the government has been very careful about managing immigration, obviously recognizing it's a small open economy. You do need immigration. The government is very clear about that. But how do you manage that again against the needs of your local workforce? Competition for jobs, assimilation, lots of issues as well. Chief Asia correspondent Roslyn Matheson there.