By Kim Jae-won
A renowned Korean economist and author said the government should implement stronger policies to promote births or encourage immigration from other countries or it will face a big manpower shortage.
University of Cambridge professor Chang Ha-joon argued for such a policy change in a lecture co-hosted by governing Grand National Party (GNP) Rep. Chung Doo-un and his fellow lawmakers in an auditorium at the National Assembly, Monday.
“This is the time to decide to choose one between pro-birth and pro-immigrant policies to resolve the low birth rate problem,” the 47-year-old economist said.
The government set many policies to increase the number of births, but the birth rate is still one of the lowest in the world.
According to Statistics Korea, the number of newborns reached 444,800 in 2009, down 4.5 percent from the previous year. Korea had an average fertility rate of 1.24 last year, less than half of the world’s average, which was 2.52 during the same period. Fertility rate refers to the average number of children born to each woman over the course of her life.
Chang recommended longer maternity leave for female employees, which guarantee their jobs even after two years of absence.
“The government needs to guarantee two years paid maternity leave for female employees,” he said.
Currently, the government provides only three months’ paid maternity leave for female employees.
Chang cited the combination of pro-immigrant and birth promotion policies as another alternative.
“Pro-immigrant policies cannot solve the low birth rate problem completely,” he said. “When they first come to the immigrated nation, they tend to have more births than the locals.”
On hand was former Minister of Health and Welfare, Jeon Jae-hee.
Chang is one of the leading economists specializing in development economics. Currently a professor in the political economy of development at the University of Cambridge, Chang is the author of several influential policy books, including 2002's “Kicking Away the Ladder.”