The level of physical burden from infant care increased as time allotted to infant care increased, while an increase in household income reduced the financial burden of infant care. (image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, July 22 (Korea Bizwire) – The results of a recent survey show that the average Korean parent says 2.3 million won ($2,026) is the monthly economic value of providing infant care.
The survey was conducted by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education (KICCE) on 1,203 parents with children aged between 0 and 6 years, to discover parental perception of infant care, and the financial burden that infant care entails.
According to the institute’s report, the average economic value that parents assign to infant care was 2.27 million won per month. The figure was higher for rural areas (2,403,300 won) compared to large cities (2,242,500 won) and small and medium-sized cities (2,264,100 won).
The study also discovered that parents who spent between six and nine hours each day taking care of their children showed the highest levels of psychological and economic burdens, scoring 2.7 and 2.97 points, respectively, out of 4.
The level of happiness from infant care was also lowest for parents that spent between six and nine hours daily (3.31/4), whereas parents who spent less than three hours taking care of their children showed the highest level of happiness (3.54/4).
The level of physical burden from infant care increased as time allotted to infant care increased, while an increase in household income reduced the financial burden of infant care.
“We discovered that as household income or the age of children increased, parents assigned lower levels of economic value to infant care,” said Kwon Mi-kyeong, chief of infant care policy research at KICCE.
“Our study shows that regardless of parental confidence in infant care, long hours looking after infants reduced the level of happiness derived from infant care. The government should take this into consideration when establishing future infant support policies.”
By Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
