SEOUL, Aug. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Starting next month, national health insurance coverage for pregnancy and childbirth will be expanded as part of the government’s effort to encourage couples to have children. On August 28, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW) announced that starting in September, entitlement to pregnancy and childbirth insurance coverage will [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean retailers have moved quickly to create a favorable work environment for expecting and child-rearing mothers, including incentives for fathers, industry observers said Tuesday. Retail businesses have been fast movers in accommodating women who in most cases make up nearly half of their workforces. With the government encouraging [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea has the fewest out-of-wedlock childbirths among developed market economies with high income, a central bank report said Sunday. The result of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) findings were due to the country’s deep-rooted sentiment against having a child out of marriage, the Bank of [...]
SEJONG, May 30 (Korea Bizwire) – Many dual-income newlywed couples in South Korea quit a job after having a baby as working moms struggle with raising children, government data showed Tuesday. Out of 235,000 couples who tied the knot in 2014 and maintained their marital status through 2015, 130,000 couples, or 55.5 percent, have at [...]
SEJONG, May 24 (Korea Bizwire) – The number of childbirths in South Korea sank for the 16th consecutive month in March as the country is struggling with a continuing trend of late marriage and a rapidly aging population, a government report showed Wednesday. About 33,200 babies were born in March, down 13.1 percent, or 5,000, [...]
SEJONG, April 27 (Korea Bizwire) – The number of childbirths in South Korea fell for the 15th month in a row in February amid a deepening trend of late marriage and a rapidly aging population, a government report showed Wednesday. About 30,600 babies were born in February, down 12.3 percent, or 4,300, from 34,900 tallied a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. Childbirths have [...]
SEJONG, Feb. 22 (Korea Bizwire) – Childbirths in South Korea dropped to a record low last year despite decade-long efforts to tackle the country’s chronically low birthrate, a report showed Wednesday. The number of babies born in 2016 reached 406,300, down 7.3 percent, or 32,100, from a year earlier, according to the report by Statistics [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 4 (Korea Bizwire) – A rise in home prices tended to lower the birthrate, a trend that existed regardless of whether the economy was good or bad, a report from a local institute said Wednesday. The Korea Institute of Child Care and Education followed the changes in home prices and their correlation to [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 15 (Korea Bizwire) – Lotte Group became the first South Korean conglomerate to make paternity leave mandatory for male employees, marking a significant step forward in changing Korea’s strenuous working culture. The new company policy affects all its affiliates, and obliges male employees to take a minimum of one month of paternity leave [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Korea Bizwire) – No tax specific to single-person households currently exists in Korea. But a recent study found that various tax benefits provided to married couples with children, mainly as countermeasures to Korea’s low marriage and birth rates, are creating an equally viable effect, imposing higher tax burdens on Korea’s single population. [...]