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How The 1978 Foreign Domestic Workers Law Increased The Labor Supply Of Singaporean Women

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  • TIAGO FREIRE

    (International Business School Suzhou, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, No. 111 Ren’ai Road, Dushu Lake Higher Education Town, Suzhou Industrial Park, Jiangsu 215123, P. R. China)

Abstract

In 1978, Singapore became the first country to introduce legislation allowing foreign domestic workers to work in the country under special visas. Although Singapore is often cited in the literature as a success story, no studies have quantified the impact of this legislation. In this paper, we use data derived from the Singapore Yearbook of Manpower Statistics between 1974 and 1985 to determine the influence of the 1978 legislation on the labor supply of Singaporean women. We find that the labor supply of women affected by this policy increased by between 3.1% and 6.2%.

Suggested Citation

  • Tiago Freire, 2016. "How The 1978 Foreign Domestic Workers Law Increased The Labor Supply Of Singaporean Women," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 61(05), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:serxxx:v:61:y:2016:i:05:n:s0217590815500757
    DOI: 10.1142/S0217590815500757
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    Cited by:

    1. Tiago Freire, 2018. "Wage Subsidies And The Labor Supply Of Older People: Evidence From Singapore’S Workfare Income Supplement Scheme," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 63(05), pages 1101-1139, December.

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