Lee Hyo-sik is Finance Desk editor at The Korea Times. He manages finance-related stories on macroeconomics, banks, stocks, bonds, crypto etc. He is passionate about covering what's happening in Korea's financial industry and explaining it to both Korean and non-Korean readers. You can reach him at leehs@koreatimes.co.kr. Your insights and feedbacks are always appreciated.
Men to take more days off for childcare next year
By Lee Hyo-sik
The government said Wednesday that it will oblige employers to allow male employees to take more days off for childcare next year to boost the country’s falling birthrate.
In a report to President Lee Myung-bak, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said male salaried workers will be able to take five days off from work when their spouses give birth.
They will be given a three-day paid and two-day unpaid vacation. Male employees will also be permitted to take a leave of absence for childcare lasting up to three months.
“We will try to create a more family-friendly work environment from next year to encourage workers to have more babies. Among other steps, we will persuade companies to make it easier for both male and female employees to take longer leave to care for newborns and young children,” Employment and Labor Minister Lee Chae-pil said.
Under the current law, both male and female employees in public and private sectors are allowed to take leave for up to a year when their children are under 6 years old. They are also entitled to a 500,000-won state subsidy per month from employment insurance.
Job creation
Before and after the birth, men can also take a three-day unpaid vacation, while women are given three months off during which they are paid a full wage by both their employers and receive employment insurance.
But the majority of men remain reluctant to take paternity leave due to small state-subsidies and the prevalent workplace hostility toward taking time off.
Lee said the labor ministry will also make an all-out effort to help create as many jobs as possible in 2012 for high school and university graduates.
According to Statistics Korea, the jobless rate was 2.9 percent in November, unchanged from a month earlier. But the rate among those aged 15 to 29 rose to 6.8 percent from 6.7 percent.
“We will generate jobs for high-school graduates in the public sector. We will also encourage private businesses to do the same.
In total, we aim to create up to 71,000 jobs for young people,” the minister said.
The ministry also plans to help improve labor-management relations, while extending social safety-net programs to reach temporary and low-income salaried workers.
It will ask companies to upgrade the status of temporary workers and adopt the wage peak system, a salary structure that cuts workers’ wages starting at a certain age in return for job security.