Accelerating Population Cliff... Allowing Parental Leave During Pregnancy

'Results of the 2nd Population Policy Task Force (TF) Discussions'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] While South Korea's birth rate has recorded below 1.0 for two consecutive years, the population aged 65 and over continues to steadily increase. In response to growing concerns about the population cliff, the government has announced a comprehensive population policy plan. Measures are being promoted to allow parental leave to be taken in three separate periods and to permit the use of parental leave during pregnancy.

On the 27th, the government announced the direction for responding to changes in the population structure. This is a summary of the results from the 2nd Population Policy Task Force (TF), jointly operated by related ministries. The core strategies include ▲expanding economic activity participation ▲improving productivity ▲preemptive response to regional depopulation and aging ▲system design ▲linkage with the Basic Plan for Low Fertility and Aging Society, among others.

Notably, the new measures include policies aimed at increasing women's economic participation. First, the number of times parental leave can be split will be increased. Currently, workers with children under the age of 8 can only split their one-year parental leave once.

By increasing the number of times parental leave can be flexibly divided, it will become possible to take leave in three separate periods of four months each, depending on the spouse's parental leave schedule or company work schedule. Parental leave will also be allowed during pregnancy. Currently, only 44 days of maternity leave before and after childbirth can be taken during pregnancy, but this will be supplemented.

Additionally, the sunset clause on tax credits for companies granting parental leave will be extended, and companies implementing parental leave and reduced working hours during childcare periods will receive support payments of at least 100,000 KRW per month for the first to third times. Furthermore, artists and special employment workers will also receive salary payments around childbirth.

Meanwhile, according to the Population and Housing Census results announced by Statistics Korea on the 28th, the population aged 0-4 recorded an all-time low. Last year, the population aged 0-4 was 1,842,000, a 6.4% decrease compared to 2018. This is the first time since related statistics have been compiled in 1949.

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