Soal No.104 Literasi Bahasa Inggris
Text 1
Americans are having fewer babies. At first, researchers thought the declining fertility rate was because of the recession, but it kept falling even as the economy recovered. Now it has reached a record low for the second consecutive year. The fertility rate subtly shapes many major issues of the day, including immigration, education, housing, the labor supply, the social safety net, and support for working familles. Thus, there is a lot of concern about why today's young adults are not having as many children. As a result, research was recently conducted to investigate this phenomenon.
About a quarter of the respondents who had children or planned to said they had fewer or expected to have fewer than they wanted. The largest shares said they delayed or stopped having children because of concerns about having enough time or money. The survey tells a story that is partly about greater gender equality. Women have more agency over their lives. Many women feel that motherhood has become more of a choice. However, it is also a story of economic insecurity. Young people have student debt, many graduated in a recession, and many cannot afford homes. All these happen as parenthood has become more expensive.
One of the biggest factors was personal, which is having no desire for children and wanting more leisure time. This is a pattern that has also shown up in social science research. A quarter of poll respondents who did not plan to have children said that they did not think they would be good parents.
Financial concerns also led people to have fewer children than what they considered to be ideal. 64 percent said it wa because children was too expensive. 43 percent said they waited too long because of financial instability. About 40 percent said it was because of a lack of paid family leave.
Text 2
Would you have a baby, or add more children to your family, if the government offers to help you cover the bills? Government programs that give parents money for having kids are appearing in more and more countries as a strategy to combat declining birth rates.
Researchers study birth rates as a way to measure the stability of a community. In general, people will have children if they feel they have job security and stable economy. They will also want more children if they feel supported in starting a family. However, declining population growth can destroy the economy. Financial incentives and bonuses are one way to support parents and boost birth rates.
In one small municipality in Finland, Lestijarvi, fewer and fewer babies are born. Only one child had been born per year before 2013. Since then, local officials have given a "baby bonus" in which each baby born is worth 10,000 euros. This is paid to the family over the course of 10 years.
The bonuses for having children seem to be able to solve the problem of low birth rate in various places. This works in Finland, Estonia, Italy, Japan, and Australia. Governments can persuade parents to have children by promising easy childcare. They can also encourage women to have jobs while also having children.
The expression "have more agency over" in Text 1 Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to: