Record-high employment for working mothers pushes career-interruption rate to new low
Published: 20 Nov. 2025, 16:07
Updated: 20 Nov. 2025, 17:15
![Visitors are seen at a job fair for women hosted by the Busan city government and the Busan Women's Culture Center, where special programs for women who have had to leave the workforce due to marriage or parenting were provided, at Busan City Hall on Sept. 30, 2024. [SONG BONG-GEUN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/20/11c9fd2a-9d55-4de0-8584-bebeccd09495.jpg)
Visitors are seen at a job fair for women hosted by the Busan city government and the Busan Women's Culture Center, where special programs for women who have had to leave the workforce due to marriage or parenting were provided, at Busan City Hall on Sept. 30, 2024. [SONG BONG-GEUN]
The employment rate for working mothers in Korea has reached a record high, even as the number of women who leave the work force for marriage or parenting has dropped to its lowest level on record.
A woman surnamed Oh works at a financial firm and returned to her job six months after giving birth to her second child. She had considered quitting but decided against it. “When I factored in education expenses and mortgage payments, it made more sense to keep working,” she said.
Korea counted 7.403 million married women aged 54 and under in April last year — a decline of 251,000 from a year earlier, according to a Ministry of Data and Statistics report released Thursday. Of those, 4.984 million had jobs, down 69,000 from the previous year.
But because the decline in employed women was much smaller than the drop in the total married female population, the employment rate among married women officially rose by 1.3 percentage points to 67.3 percent. Among those raising children under the age of 18, the rate increased by 1.9 percentage points to 64.3 percent — the highest since records began in 2016.
Despite the overall drop in employed married women, the number of those with children actually increased by 1,000, reflecting a trend where more women are staying in the work force after childbirth, likely due to improved parental leave policies.
![A visitor is seen reading through leaflets at a job fair for women hosted by the Busan city government and the Busan Women's Culture Center, where special programs for women who have had to leave the workforce due to marriage or parenting were provided, at Busan City Hall on Sept. 30, 2024. [SONG BONG-GEUN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/20/5620f34a-f845-4da2-bfac-f9b512234088.jpg)
A visitor is seen reading through leaflets at a job fair for women hosted by the Busan city government and the Busan Women's Culture Center, where special programs for women who have had to leave the workforce due to marriage or parenting were provided, at Busan City Hall on Sept. 30, 2024. [SONG BONG-GEUN]
Employment rates improved across the board regardless of the number or age of children. Married women with one child or two children both saw an employment rate of 64.6 percent — an increase of 1.2 and 2.6 percentage points, respectively.
Notably, for women with three or more children, the rate jumped by 3 percentage points to 60.6 percent. Employment also rose among mothers of young children — for those with children age six or younger, the rate rose by 2.1 percentage points to 57.7 percent.
For those with children aged seven to 12, the rate rose by 1.8 percentage points to 66.1 percent and for those with teenagers aged 13 to 17, it rose by 1.2 percentage points to 70.4 percent.
The number of career-interrupted women also continued to fall. In the first half of this year, there were 1.105 million such women, down by 110,000 from the previous year. They accounted for 14.9 percent of all married women — down one percentage point year-on-year, and the lowest figure since records began in 2014.
![Parents of newborns are seen at a baby fair held at Coex in Gangnam District, southern Seoul on Aug. 17. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/20/0a17dcce-525a-4dce-9be7-362d91ff477d.jpg)
Parents of newborns are seen at a baby fair held at Coex in Gangnam District, southern Seoul on Aug. 17. [YONHAP]
The main reasons for career interruptions were child care at 44.3 percent, marriage at 24.2 percent and pregnancy or childbirth at 22.1 percent — highlighting that caregiving remains the top factor.
By age, the highest number was among women aged 40 to 44 at 305,000, followed by those aged 35 to 39 at 234,000 and those aged 45 to 49 at 196,000. The 35 to 45 age range proved to be the most critical for career interruptions.
Regarding the length of career gaps, the most common response was more than 10 years at 42.1 percent, followed by between five and 10 years at 22.3 percent and less than one year at 13.2 percent.
![Visitors are seen at a job fair for women hosted by the Busan city government and the Busan Women's Culture Center, where special programs women who have had to leave the workforce due to marriage or parenting were provided, at Busan City Hall on Sept. 30, 2024. [SONG BONG-GEUN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/20/5ab9377a-8f03-4fd5-92ab-7270bdac23c4.jpg)
Visitors are seen at a job fair for women hosted by the Busan city government and the Busan Women's Culture Center, where special programs women who have had to leave the workforce due to marriage or parenting were provided, at Busan City Hall on Sept. 30, 2024. [SONG BONG-GEUN]
The rise in working mothers and the decline in career-interrupted women is attributed to changing perceptions of women’s economic roles, the expansion of child care and family policies, and broader support for work-life balance. Men’s participation in child care is also increasing.
In the first half of this year, men accounted for 36.4 percent of all parental leave takers — the highest ever. This figure has steadily climbed from 24.5 percent in 2020.
“Looking at recent employment trends, women’s participation in economic activity is clearly rising,” a Data Ministry official said. “Employment indicators such as the number of workers are improving more rapidly for women than for men, and government support policies related to childbirth and parenting appear to be having a positive effect.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY AHN HYO-SEONG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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