Reconsider 5-day week?
By Jeremy Au Yong
Nominated MP Loo Choon Yong on Tuesday threw up the most provocative suggestion during the Budget debate when he questioned the benefits of the five-day work week. -- PHOTO: BT
MORE free time did not result in more babies, so people should go back to work on Saturdays.
Nominated MP Loo Choon Yong on Tuesday threw up the most provocative suggestion during the Budget debate when he questioned the benefits of the five-day work week.
Speaking on the second day of the debate on the Budget Statement, he said the move to a shorter work week by the public sector and then the private sectors in in 2004 could have eroded the Singaporean's work ethic, while not improving the fertility rate in any meaningful way.
The number of live births only inched up to 39,490 in 2007 from 37,485 in 2003.
'We should accept that as a people our procreation talent is not our forte - nothing to crow about,' he said.
'I urge the Government to take steps to determine whether our productivity and competitiveness have been affected by the five-day week and to review the policy, if necessary,' he added.
Dr Loo had unleashed this stunner as he voiced concerns over what he called the 'all life and very little work' attitude of the younger generation.
He pointed to Straits Times reports on how to maximise leave by taking advantage of public holidays that fall near weekends as an indication of an erosion of the work ethics.
'I have nothing against our young Singaporeans having fun and partying. But I hope they will work as hard as they play,' he said.
Declining productivity was also a concern of Mr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) although he broached the subject from a different angle. He pegged the dipping productivity figures in recent years to an over-reliance on foreign workers.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_334240.html
By Jeremy Au Yong
Nominated MP Loo Choon Yong on Tuesday threw up the most provocative suggestion during the Budget debate when he questioned the benefits of the five-day work week. -- PHOTO: BT
MORE free time did not result in more babies, so people should go back to work on Saturdays.
Nominated MP Loo Choon Yong on Tuesday threw up the most provocative suggestion during the Budget debate when he questioned the benefits of the five-day work week.
Speaking on the second day of the debate on the Budget Statement, he said the move to a shorter work week by the public sector and then the private sectors in in 2004 could have eroded the Singaporean's work ethic, while not improving the fertility rate in any meaningful way.
The number of live births only inched up to 39,490 in 2007 from 37,485 in 2003.
'We should accept that as a people our procreation talent is not our forte - nothing to crow about,' he said.
'I urge the Government to take steps to determine whether our productivity and competitiveness have been affected by the five-day week and to review the policy, if necessary,' he added.
Dr Loo had unleashed this stunner as he voiced concerns over what he called the 'all life and very little work' attitude of the younger generation.
He pointed to Straits Times reports on how to maximise leave by taking advantage of public holidays that fall near weekends as an indication of an erosion of the work ethics.
'I have nothing against our young Singaporeans having fun and partying. But I hope they will work as hard as they play,' he said.
Declining productivity was also a concern of Mr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) although he broached the subject from a different angle. He pegged the dipping productivity figures in recent years to an over-reliance on foreign workers.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_334240.html
