8 out of 10 People Agree with Differentiated Social Service Costs... Highest Usage in Childbirth and Childcare Services

Ministry of Health and Welfare, Social Service Demand Survey Results
High Need and Willingness to Use Services
Challenges Due to COVID-19 Pandemic
Youth Show Interest in Self-Development Services

Childcare facility. Photo is not related to the article.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] Eight out of ten Koreans agree with differentiating the burden of social service costs according to income levels. Regarding the government's role in addressing difficulties caused by COVID-19, many expressed the need to expand the budget for emergency services.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced the results of the "2021 Social Service Demand Survey" on the 20th to understand the usage status, effectiveness, future usage intentions, and related policy opinions on social services. This survey was conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs through face-to-face interviews with 6,049 households nationwide from October to December last year.

High Utilization Rate of Care Services... Satisfaction Above Average

First, 58.4% of households reported needing at least one social service in the past year, and 33.1% actually used the services. The services with the highest actual usage rates were care services (childcare 69.9%, childbirth support 58.9%). Conversely, housing support (17.5%) and mental health (15%) services had relatively low usage. Additionally, over 70% of households using rehabilitation, culture & leisure, child education, childcare, and adult education services paid out-of-pocket fees. Among service-using households, the average monthly expenditure was highest for childbirth support at 1.19 million KRW, and lowest for culture & leisure services at 63,000 KRW.

Satisfaction with service use ranged from 3.7 to 4.1 points out of 5, indicating a level above average. Services with high problem-solving effectiveness through use were adult education support (74.5%) and vocational training (68.4%), while rehabilitation (35.7%) and environmental services (37.6%) were lower. Furthermore, 60% of households expressed an intention to use social services within the next year.

Opinions were divided regarding the target groups for social service support. The proportion responding that support should be for "vulnerable groups with low income and assets" was 45%, while 47.9% responded that it should be for "people with service needs or demands regardless of income." However, 78.7% agreed that the burden of social service costs should be differentiated according to income levels. Regarding improvements, many responded that "supporting various institutions to expand services" is necessary, and for childbirth support services, many expressed that "costs should be subsidized for users."

Child Services Struggle Due to COVID-19... Young Adults Desire Self-Development Services

Separately from this survey, the Ministry of Health and Welfare also investigated ▲the impact of COVID-19 on social service demand and usage and the government's role ▲young adults' difficulties, usage experiences, intentions, and policy awareness in various social service areas.

First, households experiencing difficulties in using existing services due to COVID-19 varied by sector from 0.5% to 7.6%. Particularly, many reported difficulties in child-related services (care 7.6%, educational support 5.5%) and leisure services (7.3%). Although service use shifted to non-face-to-face or was replaced by other services due to the pandemic, more than half of households could not resolve difficulties in mental health (61.8%), culture and leisure (57.2%), disabled care (53.5%), and physical health (52.7%) services.

The Role of the Government in Overcoming Difficulties Caused by COVID-19. [Source=Ministry of Health and Welfare]

Additionally, 16.8% of households (multiple responses allowed) experienced new difficulties due to COVID-19, such as "decline in children's social skills" (16.3%) and "difficulty in job searching" (5.6%). The top priority role for the government to address these difficulties was "expanding the budget for emergency services," cited by 28.7%.

In a supplementary survey of young adults, they reported difficulties in using services for self-exploration and capacity development education (19.1%), employment and reemployment (14.6%), and routine physical health management (12.2%). They also showed high intentions to use self-exploration and capacity development education (29.8%) and routine physical health management (24.4%) services in the future. When designing social service policies for young adults, the amount of service (25.7%), understanding of young adults by service providers (25.7%), and provider expertise (25.3%) were considered important factors.

A notable difference compared to the general survey was young adults' perception of social service support targets. The response that "social service support should be for all young adults with needs regardless of income or assets" (64.3%) was more than twice as high as the opinion that "support should target low-income vulnerable young adults" (31.7%).

Kim Hye-jin, Director of Social Service Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "Through the social service demand survey, we were able to objectively grasp the changing public demand due to COVID-19 and demographic changes. Based on this, we will establish social service policies with high public satisfaction through cooperation between the private and public sectors."

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