This photo shows newborns at a hospital. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – One in five married women with children experienced career interruptions this year, government data showed Thursday, marking the lowest level largely due to change in social perception and improved work–life balance policies.
The number of married women aged 15 to 54 living with children under the age of 18 who left the workforce had stood at 885,000 as of April, down 85,000 from a year earlier, according to data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
The ratio of married women who experienced career breaks came to 21.3 percent, down 1.4 percentage points from a year earlier, the lowest level since relevant data was first compiled in 2014.
The ministry attributed the decline to rising economic participation among women and various government policies supporting childbirth and child care.
However, the ministry noted that career interruptions were more common among married women with more children and among those with younger children.
By the age of the child, the number of women with children aged six or younger came to 461,000, compared with 133,000 for those with children aged 13 to 17.
By number of children, the career-break rate was 20.2 percent among women with one child, 22.3 percent for those with two children and 23.9 percent for those with three or more.
Among the women who left their jobs, 44.3 percent cited child-rearing as their primary reason, the data showed. Another 24.2 percent stopped working upon marriage, while 24.4 percent attributed their decision to pregnancy and childbirth.
South Korea has been grappling with a persistent decline in its birth rate, as an increasing number of young people are choosing to delay or avoid marriage and parenthood. To encourage marriage and improve the fertility rate, the government has expanded various benefits and support for child care.
In 2024, the total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, rebounded for the first time in nine years, reaching 0.75.
(Yonhap)
