SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - SOUTH Korea, which has the lowest birth rate in the world, is offering paternity leave for the first time and making childcare leave more generous to encourage people to have more babies.
Since 2006, the birth rate for South Korea has been 1.2, a notch below 1.3 for both Singapore and Japan, but a dramatic fall from the 60s when it was six children for every woman.
High childcare costs and a working environment unfriendly to parents with young children have been blamed for the baby bust.
Worried that fewer children would translate into a smaller workforce, weaker economic growth and fewer able-bodied men for its military, the government has introduced a slew of measures to up the birth rate.
This includes three days of paid paternity leave, a first for South Korea, where cultural attitudes dictate that looking after babies is left to the mother.
Aside from the paternity leave benefit, which came into effect last month, parents of all newborns this year will be allowed to take turns to go on unpaid leave of up to one year each. During this period, he or she will receive 500,000 won (S$670) a month from their employment insurance.
Flexi-time and shorter hours have also been introduced for working mums. They now have the option of taking time off from work instead of taking a full day off. But notice has to be given to employers 30 days in advance.
Mothers working in firms with more than five employees will have their working hours reduced, from 47 hours a week at present to 40 hours by 2011.
To ensure compliance, employers who flout the new rules are liable to fines of up to five million won.
Next year, the government will also set up 50 centres to help find jobs for women who wish to get back to work after having children.
Madam Park Joo Mi, 33, who is pregnant with her second child, quit work two years ago to look after her first-born.
She considers the incentives a good start.
'The measures will encourage couples to have more children and ease our worries about re-entering the workforce,' she told The Straits Times.
But Madam Nam Hyun Joo, a secretary with a two-year-old boy, thought the 30-day advance notice impractical. 'Where children are concerned, emergencies can happen anytime,' she said.
While workers generally welcome the latest carrots, employers are less keen. 'Profit is paramount in business and long leave disrupts operations, which in turn affects the bottom line,' said Mr Chung Bok Joon, 55, the owner of a printing firm.
High cost is another reason often cited for the dearth of babies here.
A Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs study in 2006 found that it costs 232 million won to support a child from birth to graduation from university.
Another survey by the institute found that 44 per cent of women were willing to have more children if childcare costs were cut by half.
To ease the burden, 137 local governments nationwide now provide subsidies - from 100,000 won to six million won - to families with children.
The Seoul city government, which pays 100,000 won a month to families with at least three children below six, plans to increase the amount this year.
The local authority in North Jeolla Province gives couples a one-off 'award' of 400,000 won for the third child, one million won for the fourth and five million won for the fifth.
However, previous measures such as increasing paid maternity leave from one to three months have not had the desired effect.
Said Kangwon National University sociologist Kim Hak Soo: 'Changing the entrenched mindset that having more children equals a greater burden will not be easy.'
South Korea is not alone in offering perks to encourage more births.
Singapore, which has its Baby Bonus scheme, is looking to Sweden's policies to make it even more attractive.
In Sweden, where the birth rate was 1.88 last year, parents get child allowances and 13 months of paid leave, with the cost borne by both the state and employers.
WHAT DAD GETS
Three days of paid paternity leave, a first for South Korea. It came into effect last month.
WHAT MUM GETS
Flexi-time and shorter hours have been introduced for working mums.
WHAT BOTH PARENTS GET
Parents of all newborns this year will be allowed to take turns to go on unpaid leave of up to one year each.
While on leave, the parent will receive 500,000 won (S$670) a month from their employment insurance.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on July 19, 2008.
