What to do after the national crisis declaration

Lee Sam-sik
The author is director of the Institute of Aging Society at Hanyang University andpresident of the Korea Population Health and Welfare Association.

President Yoon Suk-yeol recently declared a “national population emergency.” It has been 22 years since the total fertility rate marked below the ultra-low fertility standard of 1.3 in 2002. It happened six years after the 1.0-person mark collapsed in 2018. Although it is late, the declaration is necessary for the quality of life and social stability of current and future generations. I hope the declaration will create a public consensus on the severity of the population crisis and draw active participation and cooperation from all walks of life.

A consistent and systematic response to the population crisis requires a strong command center. Coincidentally, the government announced a revision to the Government Organization Act to establish a deputy prime minister-level population strategy planning ministry. It would be nice to benchmark the experience of successful economic development and industrialization by establishing the Deputy Prime Minister-level Economic Planning Board in 1961 to get out of poverty.

Population is an issue that must be constantly handled as long as a state exists, just like the economy, land, industry, health and welfare. Especially as the country is concerned about population decline, the establishment of an independent ministry should not be delayed.

Until now, there have been voices calling for cooperation between the governing and opposition parties to address the pitifully low fertility rate regardless of partisan politics. In the parliamentary elections in April, the governing People Power Party proposed establishing a “population ministry” while the Democratic Party proposed a “population crisis response ministry.”

A delay in responding to the population crisis will amplify social and economic side effects. It is obvious that the damage will entirely be on the people. In consideration of this urgency, the two parties should cooperate and launch a powerful central administrative agency dedicated to the population issue through the revision of the Government Organization Act as soon as possible.

To effectively respond to the birthrate recovery and population decline, the government must create a comprehensive framework according to mid- to long-term perspectives and consistently implement policies. The recently announced measures for the low birthrate are encouraging in various ways. Until now, there was criticism that the work-family balance was only for government workers and those employed by large companies. A wide blind spot existed in the vacation and leave system.

The income replacement rate of paid leave is low, and only a small number of people actually get to use vacation and paid leave as companies complain about the difficulty in replacing manpower. To overcome these limitations, the latest measures include a plan to improve the blind spot in childcare assistance for workers not covered by employment insurance within the year.

The government has raised the upper limit of parental leave benefits. To replace the workforce during the period of parental leave, the government will expand subsidies for colleagues who take on the work of those who use paid leave, outsourcing expenses and supplying foreign workers.

Given that the employment indicators of young Koreans are lower than those of OECD countries, it is necessary to address the work-life balance more in depth in the future. Rather than assisting workers not covered by employment insurance, the elimination of blind spots in the work-family balance system should focus on universal benefits for any working parents to equally enjoy services.

The increase in the upper limit of the parental leave benefit is still low, and the application period is short. A fundamental improvement is required. For example, it is necessary to comprehensively reflect the cost of living according to the number of children and inflation so that families do not suffer from insufficient income during the period of parental leave.

Ultimately, the key to recovering the birthrate and overcoming the population crisis is ensuring that each citizen can enjoy happiness in the process of getting married, having children and raising children.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.