About 132,000 local workers have benefited from the government's paid family care leave program introduced in March this year to financially support working parents who are forced to take care of their children when day care centers, kindergartens and elementary schools are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said Wednesday.

The ministry said a total of 131,772 workers were paid 47.4 billion won ($42.9 million) in family care leave allowances from March 1 to Nov. 12.

Under the emergency support program, a daily allowance of 50,000 won is provided for up to 10 days to workers who take family care leave for reasons related to COVID-19. Those who take leave to care for family members diagnosed with COVID-19 or with suspected symptoms are also eligible for the allowance.

In the case of financially vulnerable workers, including those hired by small businesses, the duration of the allowance payment extends to 15 days. The ministry said it will receive applications for the family care leave allowance until Dec. 20, ahead of the program's expiry at the end of this year.

According to ministry officials, 62 percent of the family care leave allowance recipients were women, while more than half of them, 53 percent, belong to workplaces with less than 100 employees. By industry, 33.4 percent of the recipients were in the manufacturing sector. (Yonhap)