The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions has urged the special administrative region government to implement more facilitating measures to encourage women to join the workforce. 

Based on its recent survey, also released on Thursday, the federation proposed introducing paid parental leave, a tax allowance for working mothers, flexible working hours for parents, and a boost to childcare services.

The survey showed that 65 percent of respondents believe that flexible working hours for parents can assist women in employment while 45 percent believe that parental leave can achieve the same result. Among the 631 people polled, 493 are parents.

The top three policy initiatives favored by polled mothers are the supply of childcare services, flexible working hours, and a tax allowance for working parents.

Among respondents aged 25 to 55 with children, 63.14 percent identified mothers as the primary caregivers during the day for children under 3 years old.

In the meantime, 80 percent of stay-at-home mothers expressed their willingness to work if there were suitable job opportunities and support services.

The federation stressed that Hong Kong, with the lowest birth rate in Asia, has a labor participation rate of 52.2 percent for women, which is lower than the 65.2 percent in Macao and 62.6 percent in Singapore.

ALSO R4ED: Voluntary work enables newly admitted mainland students to explore HK

The government rolled out a raft of measures to boost the fertility rate in its last Policy Address, including a one-off bonus of HK$20,000 ($2,574) for newborns. Yet, these measures have failed to significantly increase the birth rate, it added.

Lawmaker Michael Luk Chunghung, from the FTU Women Affairs Committee, said that many women are forced to give up  their careers under the pressure of taking care of their families, which results in a loss to the workforce.

Luk recommended that the government take a more proactive approach in promoting family friendly policies, including implementing parental leave to set an example for the private sector and exploring options for paid parental leave in the future.

The survey also revealed that 78.7 percent of the polled parents said they were not using childcare services. The reasons include a lack of awareness about community childcare services (35.6 percent), insufficient government-subsidized childcare spots leading to long waiting times (21.1 percent), a lack of services in their residential areas (20.9 percent), and inconvenient operating hours of childcare services (16.5 percent).

ALSO R4ED: Biz leaders hail new CEPA deal's potential to boost HK’s gateway role

Ching Ngon-lai, vice-president of the FTU, highlighted the importance of the locations and operating hours of childcare services as critical factors in decision-making. 

She suggested the government increase the provision of childcare services based on population growth rates and promote such services in the community.

Apart from the childcare services, the city’s NGOs also train volunteers to help take care of young children, ranging from newborns to primary school pupils, at affordable costs.

FTU member Winnie Hung Meiyung noted stay-at-home mothers’ concerns over the varying quality of community caretakers, which affects their confidence in utilizing such services.

Hung proposed enhancing the training programs for community caretakers, drawing inspiration from neighboring cities like Singapore that offer standardized training programs.