Parental leave increased by 38 pct last year: report

SEOUL, Feb. 13 (Yonhap) -- Nearly 30,000 new moms and dads took parental leave from work last year in an increase of 38 percent from the previous year as South Korea continues to fight one of the world's lowest birth rates, the government said Friday.

A total of 29,145 parents -- including 355 men -- took baby breaks last year,
with the parental leave payment increasing by 61 percent to a total of 98 billion
won (US$69 million) from the 60.9 billion won in 2007, a report by the labor
ministry showed.
An increasing number of parents are taking advantage of the official baby break
system after new bills for extended childcare took effect as of June last year.
Under the new rules, new mothers are allowed to split their maternity leave into
two periods and also opt to work shorter hours -- 15 to 30 hours a week --
instead of taking full days off.
The new rules also grant fathers up to three days of paternity leave within the
first 30 days of childbirth. Mothers currently receive a monthly payment of
500,000 won from their employment insurance during baby break.
South Korea's fertility rate climbed last year for the second consecutive year to
1.26 births per woman, with the government increasing efforts to increase the low
number of newborns. The country saw a record-low birthrate of 1.08 in 2005.
The rate, however, still falls short of the 1.32 in Japan, 1.33 in Germany, 1.35
in Italy, 2.10 in the United States, 1.96 in France and 1.84 in Britain.
In the past, South Korean women married young and had, on average, six children.
Now many women are marrying later or choosing to remain single, while others who
do have a child prefer to spend all their resources on just one.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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