Govt to help raise employment rate of women: Lim Boon Heng
By Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 29 April 2007 2208 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Other than helping older workers stay employed, the government wants to do more to raise the employment rate of women.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Lim Boon Heng, said this at a May Day dinner on Sunday.

The 1,700 people present at the dinner were told that the overall higher employment rate of seniors in recent years owes much to the rise in the employment of female workers.

But, Mr Lim said, the employment rate of women would soon hit a ceiling if the problems they face are not resolved.

"Many find the demands of work and nurturing a child too difficult to cope with," he said.

"Many females today are better educated. Without children, they are high- performing individuals. Their employers expect the same level of performance, after the children come along. They themselves are unprepared to lower performance and adjust to lower jobs with lower pay. If fathers take their share of the duty, it will help," added Mr Lim.

Mr Lim said if the employment rate of seniors is to be raised, more must be done to help younger women stay in the work force because if they drop out, getting them back will be difficult.

Mr Lim also spent much time discussing the challenges of helping older workers stay employed.

He said this is a global problem and Singapore's target is to achieve an employment rate of 65% for those aged between 55 and 66.

That employment number has already been achieved in Sweden and Japan.

Currently, the employment rate for those aged between 55 and 59 is 60%.

For those aged 60 to 64, it is 42%.

But faced with an increasing labour crunch, more retirees are being re-employed of late.

CPF savings is another way to ensure financial security for seniors, and the government is looking into how better returns can be achieved on this.

At the dinner, Mr Lim, who was the former secretary general of NTUC, received the Distinguished Comrade of Labour Award for his outstanding contributions to the labour force. - CNA/ir