Rejuvenating Korea: Policies for a Changing Society
Korean families are changing fast. While birth rates remain low, Koreans are marrying and starting a family later than ever before, if at all. Couple-with-children households, the dominant household type in Korea until recently, will soon make up fewer than one quarter of all households. These changes will have a profound effect on Korea’s future. Among other things, the Korean labour force is set to decline by about 2.5 million workers by 2040, with potential major implications for economic performance and the sustainability of public finances. Since the early 2000s, public policy has changed to help parents reconcile work and family commitments: Korea has developed a comprehensive formal day-care and kindergarten system with enrolment rates that are now on par with the Nordic countries. Korea also has one year of paid parental leave for both parents, but only about 25% of mothers and 5% of fathers use it, as workplace cultures are often not conducive to parents, especially fathers, taking leave. Cultural change will take time, but this review suggests there also is a need for additional labour market, education and social policy reform to help Koreans achieve both work and family aspirations, and contribute to the rejuvenation of Korean society.
A care and education policy fit for parents and children
This chapter looks at the formal education and care practices in Korea. It first establishes how much time Korean children spent in formal care and education services, including the system of private education services that is widely used as from an early age. The chapter considers the rapid and remarkable development of Korea’s extensive Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) system as well as the supports for Out-of-Schools Hours Care (OSH). It also considers how the focus in ECEC- and OSH-care services is increasing on improving quality.The fierce competitive nature of the education environment in Korea has implications for the cost of education to household budgets, but also on the well-being of Children. This final section of this Chapter considers implications for child well-being, and discusses issues around achieving a greater “child-focus” in policy development.