Plan Would Pay Japanese Families To Have Kids

[jjmd3_787]

[SIZE=3]Plan would pay Japanese families to have kids[/SIZE]

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- A proposal to pay parents about $3,400 a year per child has got couples thinking seriously about expanding their family. The cash for kids plan is the brainchild of the country's new ruling Democratic Party of Japan, which came into power during the elections this week. The proposal has garnered supporters and critics.

The proposal would pay families the money every year until the child reached high school. It is an effort to boost Japan's birthrate, which is one of the lowest in the world and is a major drag on the country's economy. It is compounded by Japan's rapidly aging population.
About a quarter of the country's population is older than 65, according to government figures. By 2050, that number is expected to reach 40 percent. Nevertheless, the money for babies proposal has its critics. Economist Yuri Okina said she wonders where Japan's government is going to come up with the money to fund it.
The plan is not an instant fix, she said. What's needed, Okina said, is a way for women to remain in the work force after having children instead of being forced out because of lack of child care.

"We have to make it normal in Japan for a woman to raise a child and have a career," Okina said.
Critics also have said the plan would not fix a significant problem for working families -- the lack of day care centers. About 40,000 children are on waiting lists for day care, according to government figures.

These facilities' scarcity is problematic for mothers such as Hiromi Espineli.
"Going back to work would be tough," she said, "since there are so few day care centers."

Ibang klase talaga itong mga rich countries. Germany has the same problem too, very low birthrate. Kabaligtaran dito P'nas kung saan ang baby-making ang national pass time.

[kevin3000]

pwede bang pumunta dyan? :D

[donbuggy]

Singapore has a similar "throw money at it" solution to their low birth rate problem. But it is not working.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/the%2BS...15-161210.html

[SIZE=3]Baby bonus has had little impact so far[/SIZE]

Sat, Aug 15, 2009
The Straits Times

By Radha Basu, Senior Correspondent

A RECORD $230 million was given out by the Government in baby bonus payments last year, up from $55 million just five years earlier.

But there was no corresponding increase in the number of Singaporean babies born.

Figures from the National Population Secretariat show there were only 32,423 citizens born last year.

So is the baby bonus scheme working?

WHEN asked whether the Baby Bonus Scheme was working, given that the rise in numbers of foreigners having babies outstripped local births, here is what a spokesman from the Ministry of Community Development Youth and Sports had to say:

'Time is needed to assess the efficacy of the Marriage and Parenthood package. MCYS acknowledges that parenthood is a highly personal decision and will be based on numerous factors specific to the individual. The Government seeks to provide a pro-family environment and help couples in the decision process through a package of measures that provides financial support, leave benefits and care services.

'The Baby Bonus is one of the measures to help defray the cost of having children. While the impact may appear limited, we will continue to provide such benefits as Government is committed to help Singaporeans form families.

So Singapore still needs foreigners like Pinoys.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_416522.html

Aug 14, 2009

[SIZE=3]MM: Foreign talent is vital[/SIZE]

Dangerous to shut off flow as Singapore's economy will decline

By Clarissa Oon & Goh Chin Lian

MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on Thursday warned Singaporeans of the dangers of closing the country's door to foreign talent.

Without educated foreign residents, Singapore faces the threat of a declining economy with a shrinking labour force, he said in a speech stressing the importance of accepting and embracing them.

Immigrants make up for the children Singaporeans are not having, he said. To shut them out is to risk an unwelcome scenario similar to that confronting Japan's greying population: 'They refuse to accept immigrants, so their economy is feeble and lacks vitality.'

[jjmd3_787]

So Singapore still needs foreigners like Pinoys.

To aid them in making babies? Hamna hamna hamna! . . . Unahin ko na si Vivien Tan.

[oliver1013]

They should import more pinoys to work as impregnators...if theres such a term madali lang sa pinoys yan, maga haponesa pa

[donbuggy]

To aid them in making babies? Hamna hamna hamna! . . . Unahin ko na si Vivien Tan.

Dream on! Contrary to the demure Singapore girl image you see in the Singapore Airlines ads, real Singapore girls are highly educated, choosy, materialistic, "no money, no honey" types. They just don't want to have babies. They'd rather focus on their careers and spend their money travelling to an exotic destination (hint: not the Philippines).

They should import more pinoys to work as impregnators...if theres such a term madali lang sa pinoys yan, maga haponesa pa

Comfort male pinoys? That would be a twist.

[Gerbo]

Hindi naman impregnators ang problema sa Japan, Singapore, and Germany.

Their women are so highly educated and preferred career over traditional role of a wife and housekeeper.

*** is not wanting in these countries. It's just that their women knows how not to get pregnant. For them, raising babies is a burden to bear if they choose to have one.

Sa Pilipinas, mangmang karamihan ng mga babe. Even the normal menstrual cycle is not well understood by many.

[tidus1203]

They need babies over there to support the Social Security. Their SS is losing money since old people are outgrowing young people who will be the one's to pay for the old people's social security.

Sa atin dapat may ala China one-child policy (at least to people making less than P120K a year) but since mga Catholic majority ang mga law makers that's just impossible to happen.

[CVT]

Maybe they should open their doors to immigrants....

8601:matrix:

[Negus]

Maybe they should open their doors to immigrants....

8601:matrix:

+1 to immigration.

The keyword is "Japanese families". How about those who belong to the Japanese-Filipino, Brazilian, Korean and Chinese communities whose fathers are non-japanese. And those foreign single mothers who bore half-japanese children. In Japan, the father must be Japanese (provided they are legally wed) for the child to take Japanese citizenship.

kalokohan yan. Xenophobia rearing its ugly head. Some argue they would rather have robots man their factories than allow "scary" immigrants.