SINGAPORE
About 84 per cent of eligible fathers in Singapore Public Service are taking their paternity leave, Parliament has been told.
Minister for Manpower, Josephine Teo said this was well above the 53 per cent rate for all sectors of the economy.
“Our public sector utilisation rate is even higher than those in Nordic countries, which are well-known for their family-friendly policies and strong support for parenthood,” Mrs Teo said.
The Minister was responding to a question from MP Louis Ng who asked whether Singapore could learn from countries like Denmark and Britain and increase the take-up rate of paternity leave.
Mrs Teo said that Denmark’s paternity leave utilisation was about 70 per cent, and she was told by her Danish counterpart that “there are certain sectors where it is just not considered at the workplace to be very acceptable for the men to go on paternity leave”.
Mr Ng had also asked whether the Government would consider increasing the period during which the two weeks of Government-paid paternity leave could be taken from within 12 months of childbirth to within 24 months.
Mrs Teo said that the Government had no plans to extend the period as the leave was meant to support working fathers in caring for their infants when they were younger and in need of care.
“Maternity leave similarly has to be used within 12 months of childbirth,” Mrs Teo said.
“After a child turns one, each parent can utilise six days of unpaid infant care leave each year until the child is two, on top of six days of paid infant care leave that parents can take yearly up till the child turns seven.”
She said the Government would continue to work with employers to better support parents in managing their work and family responsibilities.
Singapore, 29 February 2020
