The number of South Korean workers who took parental leave in 2021 decreased year-on-year for the first time since the system was introduced in 2001, government data showed.

A total of 110,555 workers took time off to take care of their children last year, down 1.3 percent from the previous year‘s 112,040, according to statistics from the Labor Ministry.

The decrease was attributed to the exceptionally large number of parental leave takers in 2020, when many schools and kindergartens closed due to COVID-19, forcing parents to take care of their kids at home.

Despite the overall decline, the number of men who took paternity leave increased by 5.9 percent to 29,041. Men accounted for 26.3 percent of the total, up 1.8 percentage points from the previous year. (Yonhap)