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The South Korean government has decided to expand financial support for working parents so that both can take parental leave starting next year, as part of efforts to boost the country's dwindling birth rate, according to the Labor Ministry.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that the government approved a revised Employment Insurance Act reflecting expanded parental benefits at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.
Under the revised law, set to go into effect on Jan. 1, working parents with an infant aged 18 months or younger will be eligible for combined parental benefits of up to 39 million won ($29,800) when both parents take parental leave simultaneously or separately, each for six months.
It will also increase the upper limit of parental leave benefits to 2 million won per person in the first month of absence, 2.5 million won in the second month and 4.5 million won in the sixth month.
Previously, parents taking parental leave could get benefits only for three months. The upper limit was also 3 million won per person.
Under the revised act, a couple, each earning a regular monthly wage of 4.5 million won or more, will collectively receive 39 million won in parental benefits over the first six months of their absence if both take parental leave.
Beginning in the seventh month of absence, a benefit scheme equivalent to 80 percent of the recipient's regular monthly wage, with an upper limit of 1.5 million won, will be applied.
“Through this, it is expected that the number of people taking parental leave will increase. In particular, we hope many men also take parental leave using the revised law,” the Labor Ministry said. Among those eligible for parental leave, 47.3 percent of women took parental leave in 2021, while only 6.3 percent of men did, according to the Korea Capital Market Institute.
The revision comes as a part of broader efforts to address the country's low birth rates, ministry officials said. The average number of children a woman is expected to have hit a record low in 2023, according to Statistics Korea. During the first three quarters of this year, the rate shrank to 0.7, marking a decrease of 0.1 from the same period last year.
A rate of about 2.1 children per woman is required for a stable population.
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