I have made this proposal several times over the past years on how to deal with the low birth rate in Singapore.
I like to offer to women the opportunity to be a home maker and raise children as an occupation, with the wages paid by the government.
My earlier proposal was that the mother should be paid an allowance of $500 for each child, up to a maximum of three children, raised by the family until the child reaches the age of ten years.
After all the children reaches ten years, I would expect the mother to go out to work, if the family needs the income. Suitable jobs could be to take care of children or older people.
With the experience of raising children, they would be suitable for these jobs that are needed in society.
I quoted a figure of $500, but it may have to be increased to say $800 for the first child.
For their financial security, the government should contribute to the Central Provident Fund based on the salary.
Not all women like to work in the office or factory. Some of them prefer to work as home makers. As this is a job, the mothers need to have adequate training and pass a competency test on how to raise children.
This will be an added cost to the taxpayers, but I expect most familes will benefit from it. The other taxpayers who have to pay the higher tax are those who opted to remain unmarried.
Many countries have generous allowances for raising children. I wish to take this further to recognize home makers as a short term career for women.
I hope that this "out of the box" idea will be adopted by some countries.
