Adjournment motion on role of migrant domestic workers in Singapore's caregiving landscape

Migrant domestic workers (MDWs) have become increasingly integral to caregiving needs in Singapore. With a manpower crunch made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, some MDWs have been asking for higher salaries or demanding a transfer. Moving an adjournment motion on the issue in Parliament on Wednesday (Nov 3), MP Tin Pei Ling called for more measures to make sure that “sandwiched” middle-income families with real care needs do not lose out. She suggested introducing a higher tier of MDW levy for high-income, non-local households to “mitigate the imbalance of paying power”, capping the number of transfers that MDWs can initiate, and banning private matching of employers and MDWs through social media platforms. Responding, Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang said local households with caregiving needs already have levy concessions. She added that instead of limiting transfers, MOM has adopted an approach of “making information more transparent” so employers can make informed decisions when hiring MDWs.