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Written Answer by Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister for Manpower, to Parliamentary Question on statistics on households with at least one member over age 65 employing foreign domestic workers from 2015 to 2018

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NOTICE PAPER NO. 1592 OF 2019 FOR THE SITTING ON 1 APRIL 2019

QUESTION NO. 1187 FOR WRITTEN ANSWER

 

NMP: Assoc Prof Walter Theseira

 

To ask the Minister for Manpower for each year from 2015 to 2018 and by disaggregated housing type (a) what is the number and proportion of households with at least one member over the age of 65 employing foreign domestic workers; and (b) how many of such households have received the Foreign Domestic Worker Grant.


Answer

 

  1. From 2015 to 2018, the number and proportion of resident households with at least one member aged 65 and above, employing foreign domestic workers (FDW) are shown in Table 1.

    Table 1: Number (proportion) of resident households with at least one member aged 65 and above employing FDW, by type of dwelling (as at June)

    (in thousands)

    Type of Dwelling

    2015

    2016

    2017

    2018

    Public

    34.1 (12%)

    46.9 (15%)

    48.7 (15%)

    49.2 (14%)

    Private

    24.9 (40%)

    30.7 (46%)

    30.2 (44%)

    33.0 (46%)

    Data source: Department of Statistics (DOS).

    Note: Data are based on the sample of households surveyed in the General Household Survey 2015 and the Comprehensive Labour Force Surveys 2016-18. Resident households refer to households headed by a Singapore citizen or permanent resident.


  2. Households with members aged 65 and above who are Singapore Citizens (SCs)  pay the concessionary levy rate of $60 per month1 for the FDW they hire.

  3. In addition to this, the FDW Grant2 provides support for eligible families to hire an FDW to care for loved ones who require permanent assistance with at least three activities of daily living. As at December 2018, about 9,500 households caring for seniors, aged 65 and above, were receiving the FDW Grant.      

FOOTNOTE

  1. As opposed to the normal rate of $265 per month (to be raised to $300 per month from 1 April 2019). FDW employers can qualify for FDW levy concession under the aged person scheme if they or their spouse/parent/grandparent living with them are SCs aged 65 and above. The qualifying age will be raised to 67 from 1 April 2019. Households with persons aged 65 and 66 which are paying the levy concession under the aged person scheme before 1 April 2019 will continue to pay the concessionary rate.
  2. The FDW Grant is administered by the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC).