South Korean men account for record one-third of employees on child care leave in H1

Seoul, Aug 4 (IANS) South Korean men accounted for one-third of employees who took childcare leave in the first half of this year, marking the first time the male proportion has surpassed 30 per cent, labour data showed on Sunday.

A total of 69,631 employees received their first childcare leave allowance from the national employment insurance programme during the January-June period, marking an increase of 3.2 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to the Labour Ministry statistics, Yonhap news agency reported.

Of them, men accounted for 22,460 employees, representing a 15.7 per cent increase from the same period last year, while women numbered 47,171, marking a 1.8 per cent decline.

The change increased the male proportion to 32.3 per cent, or nearly 1 in 3 employees on childcare leave, marking the first time the male share has surpassed the 30 per cent threshold.

The corresponding male share was 8.7 per cent in 2016 and had since steadily increased to 13.4 per cent in 2017, 21.2 per cent in 2019, 26.2 per cent in 2021 and 28.9 per cent in 2022 before slightly retreating to 28 per cent last year.

In the first half of this year, male workers on childcare leave in large companies with 1,000 or more employees made up 43.5 per cent, while the corresponding proportion was 22.7 per cent in small firms with fewer than 100 employees.

The increase in childcare leave among male workers is widely attributed to this year’s expansion of the national allowance for couples taking childcare leave at the same time.

–IANS

ts/uk