Re-configuring the Care Economy for Gender Convergence 3 October - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Re-configuring the Care Economy for Gender Convergence

3 October 2019 The Point, Level 7, Mercu UEM 9.30am – 12.00pm

Care, the macroeconomy and women’s work

Jayati Ghosh

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Khazanah Research Institute, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 3 October 2019.

Why care about care work?

Care work: activities that involve “looking after” someone else, meeting the physical, psychological and emotional needs of dependent adults and children. Social reproduction: cooking, cleaning, provisioning for the household and other domestic services; looking after the young, the elderly, the sick, disabled or differently abled as well as healthy adults. Key feature of care is that it is fundamentally relational and involves human interaction, even when mediated by technology. Direct care work: services that are essential for human survival,

• r to improve the quality of human existence

Indirect care work: enabling such services to be provided.

The public value of care work

Essential for human survival Contributes significantly to human well-being and social development. Unpaid and underpaid care work provides a very significant subsidy to the formal economy. Care work can be a significant source of good quality employment generation, especially with fears of technology-related job losses and has strong multiplier effects on employment.

Social undervaluation of care

Care work is mostly undervalued by society, markets and governments. So it is underprovided and provided in poor conditions with low/no pay Performed by women, migrants, those at lower end of social spectrum Association with women’s work adds to inequalities for workers and to those receiving care.

Provider/Recipient Nature

• f care

work Children Elderly Sick/ Differently abled Healthy adults Self Unpaid work by household members within household and by volunteer workers in community Direct Feeding, bathing, cleaning, watching

• ver

Assistance in eating, bathing or moving around Nursing, assisting mobility and daily functions Counselling Seeking medical help, exercising Indirect Growing food for own consumption, cooking, cleaning, laundry, providing other essential services like shopping for necessities, fetching and carrying fuelwood and water for household consumption Informal market work by paid workers Direct Feeding, bathing, cleaning, watching

• ver,

teaching Assistance in daily functions and mobility, nursing Nursing, therapy and other assistance in daily functions Providing personal services Indirect Informal paid work for cooking, cleaning, laundry, providing

• ther essential household services, procuring water or fuel,

shopping for necessities Paid formal employment Direct Child care providers, Day care, Pediatric workers, Early education workers Geriatric services, Family day care, Old age home workers Nurses, Doctors, Physio- therapists,

• ther

clinical and medical services Therapists, Counsellors, Nutritionists Indirect Managers, administrators and other service providers (like clerical or sanitary services) in child care, elderly care and day care facilities, clinics, hospitals, nurseries and kindergartens, schools

Care is a relational activity

Even in its most “unskilled” form, care work is never “routine” and requires cognitive input and responses. So technology can never replace human engagement completely, even if it can assist in reducing drudgery of some care activities and make others easier to perform more efficiently. Demand for care is hard to adjust and in some cases cannot be adjusted at all – non-delivery of such care will result in actual detriment to the potential receiver rather than simply deferment or reduction of perceived wants. Care work will expand at a faster rate than many other economic activities, with income elasticity of demand greater than one.

Productivity in care work

Better quality care (paid or unpaid) typically requires more intensive human input. So standard concepts of labour productivity are irrelevant, misleading and counterproductive. Productivity cannot be raised significantly through mass production, and productivity measured in terms of number of people served is a misleading indicator. Increasing “productivity” in numerical terms (like patients per nurse) can make things worse: Overwork of caregivers reduces the quality of care and can cause impatience or irritation or neglect on the part of the caregiver, thereby leading to harm for the recipient.

Technology and care work

Some aspects of care delivery can be made more productive by reducing drudgery, difficulty and repetitiveness by substituting machine labour for human labour. Artificial Intelligence and new digital technologies can make care work more efficient and streamlined, with faster and more flexible responses. This will require skilling workers to be able to utilise these processes. But new technologies would supplement rather than replace most care workers

Skills in care work - 1

Different care activities require different degrees

• f skill and prior knowledge.

Some (like doctors) are known to be highly skilled requiring advanced qualifications. But skills and training required for some crucial care work are not adequately recognized, For example, early childhood education, geriatric care, dealing with differently abled persons.

Skills in care work - 2

Many of these services are performed in informal settings by unpaid or low paid workers, so the care provided can be inadequate quality because of lack of training. Societies then undervalue both the skills and the workers When mostly women do such work, it compounds the gender discrimination and hierarchy.

The affective element in care

Human emotions and empathy play important roles. Much care work, especially unpaid care, is delivered in context of socio-cultural norms about familial duties, responsibilities and commitment. These interact with patriarchal structures and values to create gendered divisions of care work. So across all societies, women are seen as dominantly responsible for paid and unpaid care work.

Feminisation of care

Globally, around 75 per cent of total unpaid care work (in work hours) is performed by women . Most women across all societies typically work longer hours than men, whether or not they are recognised as doing so. This adversely affects labour force participation of women. It creates “wage penalty”, lower wages and worse working conditions for all care work, even when performed by men.

Gender distribution of care work is universal

Paid-unpaid care work continuum

Care work is often performed by those with lower educational attainments (even when levels of skill required are quite high) and by disadvantaged workers like migrants. Because so much care work is unpaid within families, it is not valued even when it is paid for. The nature of such work – more amenable to part-time employment and informal contracts – also contributes to its devaluation both in market terms and in social perception.

Time poverty

Time poverty is the shortage of time available to devote to purely personal requirements, including leisure and relational activities. Most people who are time-poor are also income poor and suffer from other (often multiple) deprivations. Presence of time poverty adds to overall deprivation in a significant way that is rarely captured, even in newer multidimensional measures of poverty.

Care work and time poverty

Poorer people cannot afford to buy various goods and services (especially care) from the market, and if these are not provided by public policy, then they can only consume them if they produce these goods and services themselves. So in addition to having to work often long hours for relatively low wages, or paltry remuneration for self-employment, they must also engage in unpaid labour to meet the essential consumption needs of themselves and their family members. This lowers the quantity and quality of such goods and services.

The double burden of time and income poverty

In all societies, unpaid labour increases sharply as the income of a household falls – and this is mostly performed by women. Time poverty also reduces volume and quality of goods and services provided in unpaid form and so adds to the material deprivation of that family. So more than loss of leisure – it actually affects material conditions. So time poverty is not a disease of the rich – it is actually much worse for the poor and adds to their material deprivation.

Globalisation of care work

Global value chains emerging in care economy, driven especially by migration of women for care work. Nurse migration one significant example: out-migration from the Philippines (the world's largest supplier of temporary migrant nurses) to the United States (the world's largest demander of internationally trained nurses) affected by political economy, wages and working conditions in both. Migration of domestic workers: 80 per cent of all female cross-border migrant workers are domestic workers.

Domestic workers around the world, 2010

Global Value Chain of care work

Major form of subsidisation of accumulation in the North. Remittances from such migrants to home countries tend to be more stable than from male migrants in construction and manufacturing work. Internal migrant within developing countries add to value chains. Bottom of global care value chain is unpaid worker in developing societies

Can care work be an opportunity?

Concerns about new technologies taking away jobs, especially in routine manufacturing and services tasks But care work is relational and requires flexible responses, so it cannot be entirely replaced by machines. With changing demography and social changes, more skilled care services will be required. These MUST be provided through public intervention, as private markets will underprovide them.

Factors affecting demand for care - 1

Demographic patterns and ageing Level of per capita income Income distribution and extent of economic inequality Social attitudes to care and to those who are dependent: children, elderly, those with specific care needs Social patterns like increase in single member and two member households Increase in psychological care needs Gender construction of society and the status of women, their own unpaid care responsibilities and recognition of their care needs

Factors affecting demand for care - 2

Availability of basic infrastructure and amenities such as electricity, piped fuel and piped water, that reduce the need for some indirect unpaid care activities; Attitudes to role of the state and the extent of public responsibility for the delivery of care services (and therefore willingness to allow the state to tax for more provision) Available technologies that reduce more manual or tedious jobs that have to be performed by caregivers

How can we estimate desirable levels of paid care work?

A thought experiment: Take Sweden as country in which care services are currently adequately provided Sweden 2014 employment levels as benchmark to estimate likely/desirable number of care workers for all societies. Apply these numbers to 2030 population projections for all countries. (SDG goals) (This may still be an underestimate.)

Care worker ratios in Sweden in 2014

“Health workers”: health care managers, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologist and psychotherapists, other health care therapists and complementary medicine therapists, dentists and dental nurses and other health care assistants: 1 worker per 12.82 persons. Child care workers: pre-school managers, primary and pre-school teachers, and childcare workers and teachers’ aides: 1 worker per 3.6 children (0-14 years). Elderly care workers: elderly care managers and attendants, personal assistants and related work: 1 workers per 16.24 elderly people.

Projections for 2030

For world as a whole Health care workers: 663 million Child care workers: 340 million Elderly care workers: 86 million

130.99 384.00 57.25 56.25 30.91 27.75

Likely requirement of health workers in 2030 (millions)

Africa Asia Europe Latin America & Caribbean Northern America Oceania

Projections for 2030

105.96 175.37 18.89 25.75 12.02 1.77

Likely requirement of dedicated child care workers in 2030, millions

Africa Asia Europe Latin America & Caribbean Northern America Oceania 6.49 52.00 13.38 7.45 6.45 0.59

Likely requirement of dedicated elderly care workers in 2030, millions

Africa Asia Europe Latin America & Caribbean Northern America Oceania

Direct employment effects

If reasonably adequate care services are to be provided to people across the world in 2030, this will require a massive increase in care employment, even in these limited occupations. This would be a significant proportion of the working age population – and therefore an even larger proportion of the actual employed population. Many more workers beyond these will be required in the total care economy, as part of the support and administrative systems to deliver these services.

Aggregate employment effects

These projections are actually significant underestimates, since they refer to only three very specific types of relational care. In addition, care work has very strong multiplier effects. Studies have found employment multipliers for care investment to be as much as three times higher than those for construction So there is huge potential for care economy as employment generator in the future.

Inequalities among paid care workers

Care workers very heterogenous, from highly skilled and well- paid professionals such as specialized doctors to poorly paid domestic workers. Even within the same industry, various forms of care work are neither equal nor equally valued The gender dimension is very important, also because women provide so much of the unpaid care work High status care work often receives a substantial earnings bonus, while low-status care work incurs a wage penalty amplified in less regulated labour markets. Low-status care workforce tends to be more feminized, often

• lder, typically less educated and more likely to be engaged in

informal employment.

Importance of public intervention

This will NOT be delivered by the market on its

• wn.

So public intervention essential Direct public investment and expenditure on care services and on related infrastructure Fiscal transfers (child support, old age and disability payments) to enable private care services Employment multipliers of such spending can generate more growth and more tax revenues over time.

Public intervention has to get it right

Combination of direct provision, transfers and regulation essential to provide more and better conditions of care work But this should not aggravate inequalities. Fiscal austerity drives tend to see public provision of care as a soft target for expenditure reduction, reducing the availability of care adding to social problems. Should not seek to provide care work on the cheap Avoid the Indian example of underpaid health and early childhood workers. Both wages and conditions of work important.

What has to be done? 5Rs: Recognise, reward, reduce and redistribute and represent care work.

Reduction can use technological advances to avoid drudgery and repetitive tasks Redistribute care work between public, private, family and community; AND between men and women Mobilisation of care workers (paid and unpaid) and representation of care workers in decision-making on policies that affect them and their work.

Care and public policy

Recognise importance of care work and investment in good quality care services Investment in skills and training for care Instead, recognising and valuing care work, making sure it is performed by trained people in good working conditions and with acceptable wages is the smart way Public purpose is served at multiple levels: more and better quality employment; improved conditions of life; genuine (rather than false) productivity growth -

And happier, healthier, more peaceful societies!

Thanks for your attention!

Re-configuring the Care Economy for Gender Convergence

3 October 2019 The Point, Level 7, Mercu UEM 9.30am – 12.00pm

Time to Care:

Gender Inequality, Unpaid Care Work and Time Use Survey

Khazanah Research Institute

The Case for Care

Content

KRI’s Pilot Time Use Study Care Policies

39

Section 1:

The Case for Care

40

Khazanah Research Institute

+ The Case for Care

Overview of the Care Economy

Market Remuneration Work Characteristics Children Elderly

PWD Sick Adults

Formal Paid Direct Registered care centres; Market provision of domestic services Indirect Informal Paid Direct Unregistered family day care; Domestic workers in households Indirect Non-Market Unpaid Direct Unpaid care and domestic services for household and family members Indirect

Source: KRI’s adaptation of Folbre (2006)

Boundary of the care economy 41

• The nature of care affects affordability and dampens market demand for

formal care, further driving growth in the informal and non-market spheres.

• However, the size of unpaid care work suggests that there is untapped

economic potential. Investing in the care economy will increase employment and consequently expand the national economy.

Khazanah Research Institute

+ The Case for Care

#1 Care burden is rising in Malaysia

Life expectancy at birth and total fertility rate, 1966 – 2017 Care dependency ratio, 2010 – 2018

Source: DOS (2017) Source: DOS (various years) and author’s calculations

42

63.1 72.7 66.0 77.4 5.7 1.9 1 2 3 4 5 6 0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 1966 1969 1972 1975 1978 1981 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 2011 2014 2017 Total Fertility Rate Life Expectancy (Years) Men's Life Expectancy (LHS) Women's Life Expectancy (LHS) TFR (RHS) ye ar s y e a r y e ar s y e a y e ar s ye ar ye 7.28 7.57 7.78 8.20 8.24 8.34 8.20 8.20 8.29 6.6 6.8 7.0 7.2 7.4 7.6 7.8 8.0 8.2 8.4 8.6 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Khazanah Research Institute

+ The Case for Care

#2 Unpaid care widens gender gaps

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 15–19 20–24 25–29 30–34 35–39 40–44 45–49 50–54 55–59 60–64 % Men Women

Labour force participation rate, by sex and age group, 2018

Source: DOS (2019)

43

• 5
• 4
• 3
• 2
• 1

1 2 3 4 5 15–19 20–24 25–29 30–34 35–39 40–44 45–49 50–54 55–59 60–64 2010 2018 Men work more Women work more

Gender gap in mean hours worked, 2010 and 2018

Women in their childbearing years were participating less in the labour force and working fewer hours but could potentially return to the labour force in the mid-30s with a wage penalty.

Khazanah Research Institute

#3 Unpaid care work impacts poverty and inequality

+ The Case for Care

44

HH D M1 T1 T2 A Tm B C

Time-adjusted income poverty

Income (RM) Food (RM) Household A 5,000 1,000 Household B 4,000 Cooks at home

Example of household production and income distribution

Poverty and inequality measures rely exclusively on market income and excludes non-market work as measures of household living standards.

Khazanah Research Institute

+ The Case for Care

Why is unpaid care not measured?

General Production Boundary Personal Activities Market Production Non-Market Production

• Learning
• Socialising and community

participation

• Attending/visiting cultural,

entertainment and sports events/venues

• Engaging in hobbies, games and
• ther pastime activities
• Indoor and outdoor sports

participation

• Use of mass media
• Personal care and maintenance

P1 Formal employment or work in ‘formal enterprises’ to produce goods and services for pay or profit P2 Production of goods by households for income or for own final use P3 Paid construction activities and construction for own capital formation P4 Providing services for income, including employment in the informal sector e.g. paid domestic services P5 Providing unpaid services for own final use e.g. unpaid care and domestic services within household SNA Production Boundary

Locating unpaid care work within production boundaries

Source: KRI’s conceptualisation based on Baigorri (2003) and UNDESA (2005)

45

The System of National Accounts (SNA) production boundary is a subset of the general production boundary selected to measure a country’s GDP. Unpaid care work is excluded from a country’s national income accounting.

Khazanah Research Institute

+ The Case for Care

Capturing unpaid care with time

46

• “Time-use statistics are quantitative summaries of how individuals “spend” or

allocate their time over a specified period—typically over the 24 hours of a day

• r over the 7 days of a week.” UNDESA 2015
• Using “time” as a unit of measurement, improvements have been made over

the years to harmonize TUS methodology and classifications so that there can be meaningful comparisons across countries.

• At least 65 countries have conducted time use surveys, with the total

number of surveys captured at 102 as at February 2016. This includes countries from different continents and income levels.

• The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, together with the

Department

• f

Statistics conducted a “Kajian Penggunaan Masa dan Penilaian Kerja Tanpa Bayaran Di Malaysia” in 2003. The research has not been updated since and the methodology has not been replicated elsewhere in the country.

Section 2:

KRI’s Pilot Time Use Study

47

Khazanah Research Institute

KRI’s Pilot TUS

Capital intensive vs Labour intensive

Sampling Design – Purposive Sampling

• Where: Kuala Lumpur
• Who: Age 20 – 64 (net care-giver within working-age population)
• Stratification:

Class \ Gender Male Female Top 20% households 10% 10% Middle 40% households 20% 20% Bottom 40% households 20% 20% TOTAL 50% 50%

+KRI’s Pilot Time Use Study

48

Respondents

125 63 62

Survey Framework

• Stand-alone, ad-hoc survey with 24-hour full diaries
• Face-to-face recall interviews

= +

Khazanah Research Institute

Women suffer from the double burden

49 Average time spent on activities in one day (hours)

+KRI’s Pilot Time Use Study 6.9 0.7

2.2

0.6 2.5 3.4 3.1 3.2 9.0 0.4 4 8 12 16 20 24 Main Activity Secondary Activity 6.6 1.0 3.6 1.3 2.0 3.0 2.4 3.2 9.1 0.4 4 8 12 16 20 24 Main Activity Secondary Activity

Women Men

Paid Work Unpaid Care Work Socialising and Communication Leisure and Media Self-care and Maintenance

Khazanah Research Institute

Women of all income classes do more unpaid work

50 Average time spent on activities in one day (hours)

+KRI’s Pilot Time Use Study 5.7 7.7 7.7 3.0 1.6 1.9 2.4 2.5 2.9 3.3 3.0 2.9 9.1 9.1 8.7 4 8 12 16 20 24 B40 M40 T20 6.4 7.2 6.1 3.8 3.9 2.6 2.3 1.5 2.6 2.6 2.1 2.4 8.8 9.2 9.7 B40 M40 T20 Self-care Leisure and Media Socialising Unpaid Care Work Paid Work

Women Men

Khazanah Research Institute

Demarcating by life cycle intensifies double burden

+KRI’s Pilot Time Use Study 7.4 8.4 5.5 5.1 1.6 4.3 4.0 2.7 2.0 1.6 2.6 3.3 3.2 1.7 2.9 2.7 9.5 7.9 8.9 9.6 4 8 12 16 20 24 Life Stage 1 Life Stage 2 Life Stage 3 Life Stage 4 Paid Work Unpaid Care Work Socialising Self Care Leisure and Media

Average time spent on selected activities, by life stage (hours)

Life Stage Definition 1 Young individuals (<49) with no children in household 2 Individuals (of any age) with youngest child <7 3 Individuals (of any age) with youngest child between 7 and 20 4 Individuals (>49) with no children OR youngest child > 20

51

Khazanah Research Institute

Excluding travel time, women work more than men

52 Average time spent on formal employment by gender, household income class and life stage, excluding travel time (hours)

+KRI’s Pilot Time Use Study Men Women B40 M40 T20 Men Women Men Women Men Women Home 0.5 0.8 0.5 1.3 0.7 0.4 0.2 0.4 Workplace 3.8 4.9 2.6 4.1 4.0 5.6 5.7 5.0 Other 1.1 0.2 1.5 0.2 0.9 0.2 0.6 0.0 TOTAL 5.4 5.8 4.6 5.7 5.6 6.2 6.5 5.4 Life Stage 1 Life Stage 2 Life Stage 3 Life Stage 4 Men Women Men Women Men Women Men Women Home 0.4 0.2 1.1 1.1 0.5 1.4 0.0 0.7 Workplace 3.7 6.8 4.8 5.8 3.9 2.4 2.4 4.0 Other 1.3 0.0 1.5 0.4 0.3 0.3 1.0 0.0 TOTAL 5.4 7.0 7.5 7.2 4.7 4.1 3.4 4.7

Khazanah Research Institute

Men do more “pleasant” tasks compared to women

+KRI’s Pilot Time Use Study Average distribution of time in domestic work by gender (minutes)

53

Average distribution of time in direct care work by gender (minutes)

11.9 57.6 11.3 20.4 5.4 22.4 3.6 2.3 10.8 17.1 15.9 14.9 5.8 3.0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 Men Women Meal preparations Household management Travelling for domestic services Other Shopping for household/family Cleaning 10.2 17.3 3.5 10.2 0.1 1.0 1.0 4.4 1.9 4.0 6.6 5.4 3.0 9.3 4.1 1.0 38.3 27.8 0.5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Men Women Physical care for children Minding children Care of textiles/footwear

Meeting with schools/child care providers

Talking/reading to children Teaching/helping children Playing with children Other childcare activities Care for adults Travelling/accompanying for care Other care activities

Khazanah Research Institute

Unpaid care work lowers market hours and income

54

An additional hour of unpaid care work is associated with less market hours worked and income, and this effect is symmetric for both men and women

+KRI’s Pilot Time Use Study

Khazanah Research Institute

+KRI’s Pilot Time Use Study

Valuing time to calculate household satellite account

value of labour (time valued at suitable wage)

Source: UNECE (2017)

55

+consumption of capital ___________________________ value of total output _________________________ +intermediate consumption

Khazanah Research Institute

Total household production, by output 56

Overall household production

+KRI’s Pilot Time Use Study

Analysis of household production reveals similar gender, income and life-cycle themes as time-based analysis

30.7 30.5 33.3 33.8 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 Generalist Wage (Primary) Specialist Wage (Primary) Generalist Wage (Primary + Secondary) Specialist Wage (Primary + Secondary) RM ('000) Housing Nutrition Clothing Care Voluntary Work Transport % of HH Income (RHS)

%

33.7 33.4 31.4 30.4 24.0 22.5 22.6 20.6 3.7 3.3 4.0 3.4 10.2 12.5 15.7 19.8 1.1 1.4 1.1 1.4 27.3 27.0 25.2 24.4 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Generalist Wage (Primary) Specialist Wage (Primary) Generalist Wage (Primary + Secondary) Specialist Wage (Primary + Secondary) Housing Nutrition Clothing Care Voluntary Work Transport %

Section 3:

Care Policies

57

Khazanah Research Institute

Care work is generally distributed among the state, market or family

+Care Policies: Aspirations & Options

Male breadwinner model

?

Universal breadwinner model

Care as family’s responsibility: men are active in paid work, women carry out unpaid care tasks. Limited care responsibility by state and/or market. Care largely remain family’s responsibility; women still primary

• caregivers. State provides

generous compensation for care work, opportunities for part-time work, flexible working hours and sufficient parental leave. Defamilialisation and commodification of care to allow mothers (and fathers) to have full time employment. Provision of care by extensive public childcare services and/or private market care arrangements.

OR

58

Universal care parity model

59

Aspiration #1

Care sector as a productive sector in its

• wn right

Khazanah Research Institute

Only 2%

• f children

≤4 y/o are in JKM TASKAs

Most existing JKM-licensed childcare centres in Malaysia do not have full enrolment. Under-utilisation of formal childcare centres suggest capacity is not main barrier.

Source: NCDC

Undercapacity in existing active childcare centres

Note: Undercapacity is defined as childcare centres which take in (enrol) fewer children than the maximum approved by government agencies.

60

State Active childcare centres Childcare centres with undercapacity % undercapacity Johor 305 253 83.0 Kedah 223 181 81.2 Kelantan 191 165 86.4 Melaka 148 108 73.0 Negeri Sembilan 223 140 62.8 Pahang 214 166 77.6 Perak 314 216 68.8 Perlis 48 26 54.2 Pulau Pinang 153 124 81.0 Sabah 309 229 74.1 Sarawak 248 171 69.0 Selangor 1,279 970 75.8 Terengganu 268 213 79.5 WP Kuala Lumpur 281 211 75.1 WP Labuan 23 17 73.9 WP Putrajaya 111 88 79.3 MALAYSIA 4,338 3,278 75.6 +Care Policies: Aspirations & Options

Khazanah Research Institute

Low uptake of formal childcare centres may be due to unaffordability

61

Note: Calculations made based on available data as reported to NCDC. For this datapoint, an estimated 9.5% of childcare centres in KL reported data to NCDC, representing 29 TASKAs in the city, of which 16 are PERMATA TASKAs. Source: NCDRC and authors’ calculations

Average fees charged by TASKAs in Kuala Lumpur, by age group

934 435 225 151 934 847 894 750 151 123 104 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1,000 1 – 12 months 13 – 24 months 25 – 36 months 37 – 48 months Without PERMATA All PERMATA only RM

+Care Policies: Aspirations & Options

Khazanah Research Institute

Source: NCDRC. Caveat: based on data made available to NCDRC, may not be representative of all salaries for all states.

Teacher salaries often cited to be the cause for high childcare fees, but…

There are many challenges underlying the affordability of formal childcare centres: Parents are stretched thin, Teachers are paid low and Childcare centres are struggling to make a profit.

Average childcare teacher salary by state 62

+Care Policies: Aspirations & Options

1,094 1,219 1,244 1,299 1,306 1,343 1,364 1,374 1,399 1,498 1,506 1,613 1,635 1,672 1,763 1,779 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000 Kelantan Pahang WP Putrajaya Sabah Selangor Johor Sarawak WP Labuan Kedah Terengganu Perak Perlis Negeri Sembilan WP Kuala Lumpur Melaka Pulau Pinang RM

Khazanah Research Institute

Note: Numbers in parenthesis represent the effect without the care allowance programme Source: Authors’ calculations, based on several assumptions

Incentivising demand-side of formal childcare can produce significant impact

Childcare allowance conditional on sending children to JKM-licensed childcare centres.

63

Estimated impact of a monthly RM100 care allowance:

1

Boost growth of formal childcare sector by increasing use Help induce non-working mothers to work by alleviating affordability as a barrier

2

+Care Policies: Aspirations & Options

Impact 1-year forecast 5-year forecast GDP growth to RM1.293t (RM1.287t) Growth at 5.1% (4.7%) to RM1.587t (RM1.554t) Growth at 5.2% (4.8%) Women’s labour force participation rate to 56.0% (55.4%) to 62.5% (59.4%) Employment in childcare centres to ~21,900 (~18,600) to ~57,500 (~41,200) From RM1.230t From 54.4% From ~12,900

64

Aspiration #2

Equal participation in domestic work, not just market work

Khazanah Research Institute

We ask women to take up paid work, but do not ask men to take up care work

65

Noted importance of women’s role in family development Promoted new centres to provide care and vocational training facilities for PWDs, and

• ld persons’ homes

1980 1990 2000 2010 2018

4th MP

(1981 – 1985)

55% women in labour force by 2015

• 59% women’s participation

by 2020

• FlexWorkLife (work from

home programme) and Career Comeback

10th MP

(2011 – 2015)

11th MP

(2016 – 2020)

Broad policy goals of gender equality as a central

• bjective, in line with the principle of non-discrimination

enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

National Women’s Policy (1989)

5th MP

(1986 – 1990)

• Flexible working arrangements via

amendments to Employment Act 1955 .

• Tax exemptions for healthcare

spending for children taking care of their aged parents.

7th MP (1996 – 2000)

• 30% women in decision-making positions
• Care options explicitly considered as a strategy: to

increase provision of childcare facilities and promote flexible working arrangements to facilitate greater women participation

• RM20m for PERMATA, providing heavily subsidised

childcare centres for low-income working parents

9th MP (2006 – 2010)

• Promoted state and market care options to

facilitate women entering the workforce.

• Acknowledged that “the dual and often,

competing responsibilities of family and career restrict the mobility and increased participation of women in the labour market.”

• Introduced measures e.g. tax exemptions for

workplaces which establish childcare centres at the premises or nearby, with main objective of increasing women’s labour force participation

6th MP (1991 – 1995)

National Policy for Older Persons (2011)

+Care Policies: Aspirations & Options

Khazanah Research Institute

Extending paid parental leave can be a step towards reducing women’s double burden

66

“Some call women’s segregation into low-paid work a choice. But it’s a funny kind of choice when there is no realistic option other than the children not being cared for and the housework not getting done.”

• Caroline Criado-Perez

Author of Invisible Women

Women are entering the labour market at a faster rate than men are participating in the domestic realm

To a more gender-inclusive society:

• A more equal distribution of care work in

families via extended paid maternity and paternity leave.

• Could be funded by transitioning parental

leave from employer’s liability to using social insurance e.g. including it to the Employment Insurance System benefit package.

+Care Policies: Aspirations & Options

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Aspiration #3

Ensuring quality care provision without overly burdening providers

Khazanah Research Institute

Most households use informal forms of childcare services

68 Childcare arrangements Percentage Grandparents 26.8% Babysitter 24.0 Mother 16.9 Childcare centre 14.4 Relatives living elsewhere 5.6 Relatives living in the same household 3.9 Father 3.7 Older siblings 2.3 Domestic helper 1.5 Other arrangements 0.9 Childcare arrangements for children aged below 6 years old among working women, 2014

Source: LPPKN (2016)

+Care Policies: Aspirations & Options

456 cases of child abuse in 2018 (MoHA).

Unregistered childcare centres can be cheaper alternatives for parents. ARCPM attributes rise in child abuse cases to unlicensed childcare centres and inexperienced childminders. Informal providers can charge lower fees as they save on financial costs of complying with Child Care Centre Act.

Khazanah Research Institute

Introducing minimum care standards in exchange for incentives for informal providers

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+Care Policies: Aspirations & Options

Developing and gradually introducing minimum childcare standards for informal care sector Informal care providers given access to financial incentives, legal and advisory services, etc. Strengthen informal childcare sector accessible, quality childcare profitability for providers

Khazanah Research Institute

Summary: Towards a coherent family benefit structure for Malaysia

70 Possible family benefit structure for Malaysia

90d 2w 4w 4y

Maternity Leave Optional Paternity Leave (Social Employment Insurance) Fully-paid Paternity Leave (Employer Liability) Conditional Childcare Allowance (Formal Care) + Care Incentives (Childminders)

+Care Policies: Aspirations & Options

Conditional childcare allowance would promote growth of formal childcare sector. Expansion of parental leave would encourage men to take up care work and reduce women’s burden. Incentives for childminders would ensure minimum standards are met without overburdening providers.

2. 1. 3.

The End

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