The factor contributing to around 40% of South Korea’s declining birthrate has been identified as younger women experiencing less employment discrimination. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Apr. 18 (Korea Bizwire) – An ironic factor contributing to around 40% of South Korea’s declining birthrate has been identified as younger women experiencing less employment discrimination than in the past, according to a new report.
While gender-based disadvantages in hiring have decreased for young women, the probability of career interruption after childbirth has remained stagnant, resulting in a relatively larger “childbirth penalty.”
The report “Women’s Concerns over Career Interruption and Declining Birthrates” released on April 16 by the Korea Development Institute (KDI) found that the probability of career interruption for women in their 30s with children dropped 5 percentage points from 29% in 2015 to 24% last year.
However, for childless women in their 30s, the probability plunged a striking 19 percentage points from 28% to 9% during the same period.
The researchers noted that based on last year’s data, a woman in her 30s who chooses to remain childless could conservatively reduce her probability of a career interruption by at least 14 percentage points.
Considering the associated wage growth from an uninterrupted career, this could substantially impact lifetime earnings, making the decision to forgo childbirth an economically rational choice for individual women in the current environment.
This study represents the first attempt to quantify the divergent “childbirth penalties” experienced by South Korean women based on parenthood status.
While the career interruption probability for childless women in their 30s dropped 24 percentage points from 33% in 2014 to 9% in the analyzed period, the decline was just 4 percentage points for mothers, from 28% to 24%.
A key driver exacerbating this parenthood gap is the labor market’s failure to accommodate work-life balance.
Although gender discrimination in employment has decreased, the workforce structure still forces a choice between work and family, resolving discrimination only in the direction of allowing childless women to compete equally with men.
The difficulties faced by women having to choose between career interruption and non-parenthood are starkly reflected in South Korea’s total fertility rate, which fell from 1.19 in 2013 to 0.92 children per woman in 2019.
The researchers estimate this “childbirth penalty” accounted for around 40% of the decline.
“While the employment rate for women in their 20s is now higher, reducing the gender gap, the widening divergence in career interruption risk based on parenthood appears to be increasing the number of women delaying or forgoing childbirth,” the study states.
The report suggests short parental leaves are inadequate for reducing career interruptions for mothers. “To allow parents to balance work and childcare, policy support enabling telework and reduced schedules for over 10 years may be needed,” the researchers recommended.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
