LABOR

Singapore Maids Get 6-Day Week

Losing domestic workers to nearby nations.

Singapore’s 200,000 maids and other domestic workers will finally get a break after the government mandated that they be allowed one day off per week. Office workers in Singapore have been guaranteed days off for years, but controversy arose when the state considered applying the same protections to domestic employees. Some Singaporeans argued that they wouldn’t be able to “control” their workers, or that maids would develop social lives and become pregnant. Human rights groups welcomed the reform, but said it does not address maids’ exclusion from Singapore’s labor protections. The government policy appears to be motivated by the loss of workers to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other locales, which provide stronger worker protection.