Reframing the Challenge
We often speak about Singapore's aging population as a demographic challenge. Today, I want to reframe it as a workforce challenge, one unfolding quietly in our workplaces right now.
The Invisible Burden
Many colleagues are part of the sandwich generation, managing aging parents while holding full-time jobs. The numbers tell the story: in 2024, 87,100 residents were outside the labour force due to caregiving, 86% of them women. Nearly half are in their prime working years, ages 40 to 59. These exits don't show up as unemployment, but represent a massive loss of experienced talent.
A Structural Issue
This isn't temporary. Singapore's aging population means elder-care responsibilities will only grow. Yet our policy focus remains unbalanced. We've made tremendous progress supporting working parents. It's time we extend similar support to caregivers.
The Real Cost
Workers aged 40 to 59, our most experienced professionals, are stepping back not by choice, but because they lack structured workplace support. We're losing productivity and institutional knowledge when we can least afford it.
The Solution: Proactive Workplace Support
Current measures help caregivers after they've left the workforce through reskilling programmes and re-entry support. While valuable, this is reactive. We need proactive workplace support that prevents exits.
WP proposes Family Care Leave, modelled after Childcare Leave. Employees with caregiving responsibilities should receive six days annually: three employer-paid, three government-paid. Those with multiple care recipients would receive two additional days.
The recent Tripartite Guidelines on FWA Requests are a start, but we need employer frameworks that make elder-care support standard practice, not discretionary. We must normalise elder-care conversations, just as we've normalised childcare discussions.
Next Steps
Start with data collection to understand the scale. Pilot workplace frameworks with willing employers. Develop realistic best practices across sectors.
Closing: Prevention Over Cure
Research shows employees balancing work with caregiving face higher stress and reduced productivity. Supporting them through structured leave can improve wellbeing while paying for itself through better retention and productivity.
Yes, we have re-entry programmes. Yes, we have flexible work guidelines. But let's be honest: by the time someone needs reskilling to re-enter the workforce, we've already lost years of their contribution. Prevention is better than cure.
Supporting elder-care is not just compassionate policy. It's smart economic policy. We cannot afford to lose 87,000 workers, many in their most productive years, to a challenge we've simply chosen not to address proactively.
The question is not whether we can afford to act. It's whether we can afford not to.
References
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35973924/
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27048567/
