How can Korea fix its birthrate? More corporate jobs, think tank says

Job-seekers look for information at the Korea Employment Information Service in Mapo District, western Seoul, on Jan. 16. [YONHAP]

An insufficient number of jobs at conglomerates is lowering Korea’s fertility rate as employees at smaller firms struggle to take advantage of parental welfare programs, according to a report from the Korea Development Institute (KDI).

The usage of maternity protection system is low in Korea due to the current shortage of quality jobs, which has led to low female employment, the state-run think tank said in a Tuesday report, concluding that the country needs more conglomerate jobs.

“The proportion of jobs at conglomerates in Korea is the lowest among the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),” the KDI said.

“Lack of jobs at conglomerates — represented as quality jobs — is becoming an essential reason for overheated competition for university entrance, reduced social mobility, fall in fertility rate and stagnant female employment as well as the intensified concentration [of quality jobs] in the metropolitan areas.”

The number of jobs at companies with at least 250 employees accounted for 14 percent of positions in Korea, compared to 41 percent in Germany, 44 percent in Sweden, 46 percent in England and 58 percent in the United States.

The growth of the quality jobs in the country has been weak for longer than a decade.

Korean companies are required to provide welfare programs to their workers, including parental leave, according to the labor law. But only those who work at conglomerates are able to freely enjoy such benefits, the KDI found.

Thirty percent of workers at companies with fewer than 30 employees said they could not fully use their parental vacation before and after giving a birth, while 50 percent said they could not fully utilize the parental leave system, according to data from Ministry of Employment and Labor.

More than 50 percent of employees work at companies with fewer than 30 workers.

Korea’s total fertility rate — the average number of children that a woman aged 15 to 49 has during her lifetime — plunged to 0.81 in 2021, according to a Bank of Korea (BOK) report. That figure was the lowest among OECD member countries.

The country’s economy is projected to report negative growth in 2050, and its population will fall below 40 million in 2070 from the current 51 million if the current trends persist, the BOK report added.

The figure fell to 0.7 as of the third quarter of last year, down 0.1 from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea data, which predicted that Korea will experience its lowest-ever birthrate in 2024.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]