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Alex Lo
SCMP Columnist
My Take
by Alex Lo
My Take
by Alex Lo

Hong Kong minister Matthew Cheung's plan to get mums back to work just won't fly

Let me wrap my head round this. Our labour minister wants more housewives to re-enter the job market.

Let me wrap my head round this. Our labour minister wants more housewives to re-enter the job market. This means launching a massive scheme to provide after-school care for their children running from 4pm to 9pm. Children so targeted cover both primary and early-secondary school pupils from working-class families.

So, after the kids already spend the whole day at school, Matthew Cheung Kin-chung wants to keep them from home just so mums can work extra hours at some menial jobs like supermarket cashiers and restaurant cleaners. When do they get to see mums and dads at all? Perhaps on the rare days when the parents are off their low-paying work! If this is the government's idea of a family-friendly policy, God save Hong Kong's families. The welfare and well-being of such a family may be even worse than if mum stayed at home.

How, indeed, would a fair-minded person classify this programme? It's another public-private initiative, as the government only covers half of the HK$400 million seed money. The other half will be subsidised by big business. The children would be paired with a mentor, say a doctor, accountant or business executive, to teach them life's lessons.

"[This] promotes a tripartite cooperation, reducing the city's hatred of the rich," Cheung said.

Somehow I don't think so. Children would be far better off having quality time with parents than occasionally getting a pat on the shoulder from ... an accountant: "Little Grasshopper, here is a spreadsheet and this is how you cook the books."

The big chains must be salivating over the scheme, as there is a severe labour shortage in many low-paying jobs in Hong Kong.

But if the idea is to enhance labour participation, productivity and value-added jobs to reverse population ageing and revive the economy, the scheme is not even relevant. Many professionally trained and academically qualified women leave the job market after marriage, but especially after their first and second child.

Now, universal quality childcare - that would be an idea. Smart and experienced female workers can re-enter the market and take up quality jobs with real value creation in a knowledge economy. But the government is not even thinking about that.

 

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Getting mums back to work just won't fly
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