[In-Depth Review] Disappointment Over Childcare Leave Pledge

It is meaningful to examine the pledges made by each party’s presidential candidates during the election phase. The childcare leave-related pledges, presented to capture the hearts of millions of parents, are as radical as the total fertility rate of 0.8 and the birth count in the 200,000 range. They promise to unprecedentedly extend and increase childcare leave duration and pay, or even to legally mandate childcare leave. Will this lead to a rebound in the low birthrate and low fertility phenomenon? No. This is because they have only half understood parents’ feelings or the true meaning of childcare leave.

Parents are not only those who raise children but also valuable labor forces needed by our society. Parents find happiness in caring for their children while simultaneously valuing self-fulfillment through work. But will people decide to have children just because they receive more money? Without focusing on that money, many will continue to concentrate solely on their work. Why? Because it is difficult to find an environment that allows work-family balance in the labor market, social care, and family relationships when having children.

There is even a promise to extend childcare leave up to three years. Currently, the combined childcare leave period of two years?one year each for mother and father?is the longest in the world. Especially when considering only the “paternity leave” period, South Korea has the longest duration among OECD member countries. However, the longer the leave period, the harder it becomes to return to and adapt to the workplace. This is because the work environment is rapidly changing. It is important to guarantee opportunities for parents to develop themselves as excellent human capital. Therefore, advanced Western European countries tend to focus more on guaranteeing flexible working hours for parents rather than extending childcare leave periods.

In fact, most parents in South Korea do not properly use childcare leave. Especially among fathers, only about 2 out of 100 take childcare leave. Consequently, there have been calls to legally mandate childcare leave. This is a result of only half understanding the meaning of the childcare leave system.

Companies need talent for growth, but as people’s values change, they no longer focus solely on work as before. More people seek jobs that allow work-family balance. Companies expand family-friendly management to secure the necessary talent and encourage childcare leave. Companies grow based on the expertise of talents who stay without leaving. This is why in advanced Western European countries, companies have taken the lead over the state in emphasizing family-friendly management. The legal enforcement of childcare leave will result in a situation similar to current government policies that expanded various regulations to control apartment prices but only caused price surges. Supporting the restructuring of small and medium-sized enterprises toward sustainable management centered on professional personnel should be prioritized. If childcare leave is mandated when companies do not need it, misuse of the support that companies can receive as compensation for the mandate will occur.

If radical institutional changes are necessary, flexible working hours without restrictions that parents with young children want should be expanded. Supporting restructuring toward growth centered on professional personnel as family-friendly management companies is more important than mandating childcare leave. Parents have life goals beyond caregiving. They want to be recognized and respected as talents confidently in the workplace, not because of legal mandates. Observe the newly changed image of parents. And please reconsider those pledges once again.

Jaehoon Jeong, Professor, Department of Social Welfare, Seoul Women’s University

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