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Working mothers on rise amid growing financial strain on households
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By Jun Ji-hye
Health, social welfare jobs increasing as aging population drives married women's employment
Choi, a 42-year-old woman who lives in Guri, Gyeonggi Province, quit the trading company where she had worked for more than a decade as soon as she became pregnant. As an older expectant mother, she was worried that the job might put too much strain on her pregnancy.
After giving birth, she stayed home to focus on child care, but recently returned to the workforce when her child turned three, taking a position at an IT-related startup.
“With the rising cost of living and the growing burden of child care and education expenses, it became clear that we could no longer rely on my husband’s income alone,” she said. “Plus, the flexible work culture typical of startups made it an ideal environment for working mothers.”
The number of working mothers juggling both work and household responsibilities has risen rapidly over the past year. In contrast, the number of women who leave the workforce due to marriage, childbirth, child care or family care has fallen to an all-time low.
A survey by the Ministry of Data and Statistics showed that 64.3 percent of married women aged 15 to 54 who live with children under 18 were employed in the first half of this year, the highest rate since the data was first compiled in 2016.
In 2020, the employment rate for this group was only 55.5 percent, but it has climbed by nearly 10 percentage points over the past five years.
Given that the overall employment rate for the working-age population rose by just 4.3 percentage points during the same period, the increase among married women stands out as particularly sharp.
The rise is even more pronounced for mothers of teenagers aged 13 to 17, a period when demand for private education tends to peak. Their employment rate reached 70.4 percent in the first half of this year, up 1.2 percentage points from the previous year and surpassing the 70 percent mark for the first time.
The trend is widely attributed to burdensome household finances, driven by surging living costs, rising private education expenses and soaring housing prices, all of which are fueling the perception that dual-income households have become a necessity.
Separate data from the ministry showed that while household income grew by 430,000 won ($292) from the second quarter of 2022 to the same quarter this year, household spending increased by 570,000 won during the same period.
As the employment rate of married women has risen sharply, the proportion of those aged 15 to 64 who experienced a career break due to childbirth or other reasons dropped to 14.9 percent, the lowest level since records began.
A woman in her early 40s, who recently returned to her job after a year of parental leave, said, “It’s difficult to maintain a comfortable life on a single income these days, and women no longer depend solely on their husbands financially. That’s why many mothers choose to take parental leave and stay employed rather than quit after giving birth.”
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By sector, married women are most commonly employed in health and social welfare services, with 475,000 workers, or 17.8 percent of the total. They are followed by the education sector, which employs 417,000 women, or 15.6 percent, and wholesale and retail trade with 334,000 workers, or 12.5 percent.
These figures suggest that many married women work in fields with relatively low entry barriers, such as caregiving and related support roles.
“While jobs are decreasing in manufacturing and construction, where men make up the majority of the workforce, employment in health and social welfare services continues to expand due to an aging population,” said Song Jun-haeng, director of employment statistics at the ministry. “This has pushed up the employment rate of married women regardless of their children’s ages.”