By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

These days, many parents are forgoing having a second child mainly because they are unsure about their job stability, and this explains why the nation's birthrate has been falling, a report said Thursday.

The paper by the National Assembly Research Service proposed Thursday that the government give tax breaks to employers who offer paid maternity leave, among other ideas, to raise the rate.

The incentives would make sure that businesses are less affected after female workers take maternity leave, and consequently employers would be less likely to place them at a disadvantage after they get pregnant.

Citing the results of a recent empirical study, the report pointed out an increasing number of families are not having second children.

The total birthrate -- the number of children a woman chooses to have during her lifetime -- here stood at 1.19 in 2008, falling far below the 2.1 needed for generational replacement.

The report also suggested policymakers come up with supportive measures to help encourage families to have second children.

It said the health ministry should build more public day-care centers and assist families with preschool age children with monetary assistance.

Currently, only low-wage families are entitled to receive such subsidies.

It also recommended the government provide more monetary compensation to women on maternity leave so they face fewer challenges in caring for their babies during their time away from work.

Under the current scheme, working women with children aged three years or younger are eligible for one year of maternity leave and to receive a fixed 500,000 won (about $430) per month.

Husbands are allowed to take up to a three-day unpaid parental leave if their spouses have new-born babies.

Despite this, only 0.46 percent of mothers with newborns and 1.6 percent of fathers take advantage of parental leave.

Researchers at the National Assembly said that working women prefer not to take maternity leaves because they think the compensation they are entitled to is not sufficient to raise children.

They recommended that the health ministry consider giving monetary compensation equivalent to income level and allow working women with children aged eight or younger to take the leave.

The think tank also advised authorities to work closely with businesses to reduce the working hours of female workers with newborns in order to help them reconcile work and family.

In return, the authorities should give tax incentives to employers allowing flexible working hours, the report said.

Both high- and low-income families need to be eligible for government subsidies for their children to go to day-care centers, it said.

The institute predicted the chances of Korea seeing a higher birthrate are high if the measures are taken.

A survey of 150 women aged from 15 to 49 found more than half consider having two children is ideal. The survey was taken by the Seoul City government last February.



hkang@koreatimes.co.kr