Home > National > Social Affairs

More Korean men are taking parental leave, but over half work for large companies

Published: 08 Jun. 2025, 17:30 Updated: 08 Jun. 2025, 22:45

A family walks through central Seoul on Feb. 23. [YONHAP]

More men in Korea are taking parental leave, but the rate of increase at small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remains far behind that of large companies, according to a study released on Sunday.

The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs analyzed employment administration statistics from the Ministry of Employment and Labor and published its findings on Sunday in a report titled “Improving blind spots in the parental leave system” (translated).

The findings show that 295,697 people took parental leave in 2023. Among them, 126,069 were first-time users.

The findings exclude cases where one individual took parental leave multiple times within a year.

Of the total, 71,571 recipients — or 24.2 percent — were men. That figure marks a 10.8 percentage point increase from 2018, when the proportion of male recipients stood at 13.4 percent, indicating steady growth in men taking leave to care for children.

But the growth remains uneven.

Of the male recipients, 56.7 percent work for companies with 300 or more employees. Just 43.3 percent work at SMEs with fewer than 300 employees. That gap has widened over time.

The share of male recipients employed by large companies increased from 16.1 percent in 2018 to 30.5 percent in 2023, a rise of 14.4 percentage points.

The figure for SMEs, in contrast, rose only 8.4 percentage points in the same period — from 10.6 percent to 19 percent — trailing the overall average increase at 10.8 percent.

Children arrive at a day care center in Seoul on Feb. 11. [NEWS1]

The disparity reflects ongoing challenges for SME employees seeking parental leave.

On online forums like parenting communities, users have shared stories of workplace pressure and job insecurity.

“When I said I would take parental leave in the second half of the year, my manager openly gave me a hard time,” one user wrote on Wednesday.

Another post questioned whether husbands working at smaller companies could take leave at all, with some reporting concerns about losing their positions upon returning to work.

“The share of men among parental leave recipients has increased by 10.8 percentage points in the last five years, but more than half are still employed by large companies,” the research team wrote in the report. “We need to develop ways to encourage more men at SMEs to use parental leave.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY CHAE HYE-SEON [[email protected]]