70% of Male Office Workers Intend to Take Parental Leave... Only 26% Actually Took Leave

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] With the revision of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Gender Equality in Employment, starting from the 28th of next month, couples will be able to take parental leave simultaneously, and parental leave benefits will be paid to all. A survey revealed that 7 out of 10 male office workers are willing to take parental leave.

According to a recent mobile survey conducted by JobKorea targeting 1,578 male and female office workers regarding "paternal parental leave," 87.3% (women 88.7%, men 84.9%) responded positively to the question about "men taking parental leave instead of their wives."

Among male office workers, 70.5% answered that they "intend to take parental leave instead of their spouse." This is more than three times the 22.5% recorded in a 2015 survey.

However, only 26.2% of men have actually taken parental leave at their workplace.

Only 11.1% of male office workers responded that they can "take parental leave comfortably," while 38.4% said they "cannot take it." Additionally, 50.5% of male office workers said they "feel pressured but can take it."

The reasons why men cannot take parental leave include a company atmosphere where men do not take parental leave (40.6%), concerns about disadvantages in promotion and personnel evaluation (17.2%), and the need to earn money (15.7%).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.