How Having More Working Mothers Could Save South Korea - Building Gender Balanced Business

• South Korea has the nationally unsustainable double whammy of the lowest birthrate in the world and one of the lowest female labour participation rates among developed countries. The government is catching on that the two are related.

• Traditionally, South Korean mothers do not work, much as in neighboring Japan, a country with similar demographic pressures.

• Already with the lowest female labour participation rate among OECD countries, South Korea’s M-curve for working women is particularly steep, with large numbers of women dropping out of the work force after their early years only to try to re-enter later in life when opportunities for significant advancement have closed … leading to early exits.

• Looking abroad for solutions, the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy publicly noted the positive correlation between working women and birthrates in many countries since the mid-1980s.

• The KIEP noted particular correlation in northern European countries, as well as in the United States and Britain, where at least 2 in 3 working age women pursued employment — even while the countries had birthrates above the OECD.

• Seoul needs to raise the national birthrate from below 1.2, where it has been for the past several years, nearly 5 births a year per 10,000 inhabitants below the OECD average. The government worries that the low birthrate, if unchecked, will lead to a labor shortage, reduced local demand and difficulties burden on the younger generation as the number of elderly citizens requiring care balloons.

• A 2005 OECD report estimated that South Korea’s birth rate would rise by 0.4 just by increasing childcare facilities, the Chosun Ilbo has reported.

• “The key lies in how easy it is for a woman to come back to work after she gives birth,” JoongAng Daily quoted the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy as saying: “Scandinavian countries are equipped with a social security system that guarantees female employees in the public sector will still have their jobs after returning from maternity leave, so they do not feel threatened and can safely leave work to have another baby.”

• From that, the KIEP reached this conclusion: “By easing conditions for hiring and dismissing people in regular jobs while making it more difficult to lay off non-regular workers, the government could enhance labor flexibility.”

The Joongang Daily report