October 30, 2020

Professor Jean Yeung (NUS CFPR and Sociology) was interviewed on Channel 8’s Hello Singapore about Singaporean fathers taking paternity leave on Tuesday, 27 October.

She shared results from the 2019 SG LEADS (Singapore Longitudinal Early Development Study). They included the fact that 66.4% of the dads in families with a child under 7 took the paid paternity leave when their child was born. Of them, 59% took 2 weeks, 37% took less than 2 weeks and less than 4% took more than 2 weeks. Prof Yeung pointed out that fathers with higher education and occupational status are more likely to take paternity leave. 

She also noted that among fathers with primary or below education, about 60% did not take paternity leave, whereas only about 1 in 4 of the fathers with college degrees and above did not take paternity leave. Furthermore, while 70.30% of fathers working as “Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers” did not take paternity leave, 25% of professionals did not take paternity leave.

Watch the program here.