News

The Working Mother’s Child Relief is intended to encourage women to remain in the workforce after having children ( Feb 15). Yet, the recent change in calculating the relief – from a percentage of earned income to a fixed sum – is surprising. It is laudable to offer more help to mothers earning lower incomes. However, the change means that mothers earning more than $54,000 annually or $4,300 monthly now get less relief if they have children from 2024 onwards. With fresh graduates earning a median salary of $4,200, the change suggests that women who decide to prioritise their career first and have children later will not get as much support as with the old system (More fresh university grads in full-time work with higher pay: Survey, Feb 20).  Regardless of how much mothers earn, they all make the same sacrifice every day by having to put their child, sometimes from a young age, in the care of a third party when they go to work. What impact will this change have on women and their ability to balance their career and family interests?   It would be useful to share more data and show the projected impact on working women and birth rates.