Percentage of men taking paternity leave surges 11 fold since 2008
- 5 years ago
육아휴직 남성비율 9년간 11배 증가…2008년 1.2%에서 2017년 13.4%
The South Korean government has been trying to encourage its citizens to start families to tackle the increasingly low birth rate.
One of the measures has been to give them more paternal leave, an effort that's apparently having results.
Compared to a decade ago, far more men now are exercising their right to take time off to raise their kids.
Seo Eun-kyung has the details.
In recent years, the number of men taking leaves of absence from work to take care of their children has risen sharply.
Statistics Korea said Thursday that in 2008 the proportion of male workers taking paternity leave was just 1-point-2 percent, but by last year the figure had surged to 13-point-4 percent.
The agency attributed the increase to an more government incentives for men to take parental leave such as the introduction of a "month for dad."
That policy grants 100 percent of regular wages for the first three months of parental leave, covering up to about 1,780 U.S. dollars a month.
The subsidy goes to either a mother or father who take time off work after their partner has done so.
Because it's typically mothers who take maternity leave, the policy was introduced to get more men to take time off and get involved in child-rearing.
Next year, the subsidy will rise to 2,225 U.S. dollars.
Despite the growing use of parental leave, Korea still has a long way to go to help and encourage more workers to take time off for childcare.
According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, at bigger companies with more than 300 employees, 93 percent of staff have benefited from parental leave.
But at small companies with fewer than 10 workers, only 39-point-8 percent of them have exercised this right.
Seo Eun-kyung, Arirang News.
The South Korean government has been trying to encourage its citizens to start families to tackle the increasingly low birth rate.
One of the measures has been to give them more paternal leave, an effort that's apparently having results.
Compared to a decade ago, far more men now are exercising their right to take time off to raise their kids.
Seo Eun-kyung has the details.
In recent years, the number of men taking leaves of absence from work to take care of their children has risen sharply.
Statistics Korea said Thursday that in 2008 the proportion of male workers taking paternity leave was just 1-point-2 percent, but by last year the figure had surged to 13-point-4 percent.
The agency attributed the increase to an more government incentives for men to take parental leave such as the introduction of a "month for dad."
That policy grants 100 percent of regular wages for the first three months of parental leave, covering up to about 1,780 U.S. dollars a month.
The subsidy goes to either a mother or father who take time off work after their partner has done so.
Because it's typically mothers who take maternity leave, the policy was introduced to get more men to take time off and get involved in child-rearing.
Next year, the subsidy will rise to 2,225 U.S. dollars.
Despite the growing use of parental leave, Korea still has a long way to go to help and encourage more workers to take time off for childcare.
According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, at bigger companies with more than 300 employees, 93 percent of staff have benefited from parental leave.
But at small companies with fewer than 10 workers, only 39-point-8 percent of them have exercised this right.
Seo Eun-kyung, Arirang News.