육아휴직 남성비율 9년간 11배 증가…2008년 1.2%에서 2017년 13.4%<br /><br />The South Korean government has been trying to encourage its citizens to start families to tackle the increasingly low birth rate.<br />One of the measures has been to give them more paternal leave, an effort that's apparently having results.<br />Compared to a decade ago, far more men now are exercising their right to take time off to raise their kids.<br />Seo Eun-kyung has the details. <br />In recent years, the number of men taking leaves of absence from work to take care of their children has risen sharply.<br />Statistics Korea said Thursday that in 2008 the proportion of male workers taking paternity leave was just 1-point-2 percent, but by last year the figure had surged to 13-point-4 percent. <br />The agency attributed the increase to an more government incentives for men to take parental leave such as the introduction of a "month for dad."<br />That policy grants 100 percent of regular wages for the first three months of parental leave, covering up to about 1,780 U.S. dollars a month.<br />The subsidy goes to either a mother or father who take time off work after their partner has done so.<br />Because it's typically mothers who take maternity leave, the policy was introduced to get more men to take time off and get involved in child-rearing.<br />Next year, the subsidy will rise to 2,225 U.S. dollars.<br />Despite the growing use of parental leave, Korea still has a long way to go to help and encourage more workers to take time off for childcare.<br />According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, at bigger companies with more than 300 employees, 93 percent of staff have benefited from parental leave. <br />But at small companies with fewer than 10 workers, only 39-point-8 percent of them have exercised this right. <br />Seo Eun-kyung, Arirang News.
