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Survey Finds 53 Percent of South Korean Workers Can Take Parental Leave Freely, While 47 Percent Face Restrictions
A survey of 1,000 office workers found 46.7 percent could not freely use parental leave. Contract workers and those at small firms reported the highest barriers.
Jul 19, 1:31 AM·1m read1 source
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Nearly half of South Korean office workers said they could not freely take parental leave, according to a survey released Sunday. The poll of 1,000 workers aged 19 and older, conducted June 1-9, showed 46.7 percent faced restrictions on parental leave.
Contract workers reported greater difficulty, with 62.3 percent saying they could not use the benefit freely compared with 36.3 percent of permanent employees.
More than 68 percent of workers at firms with fewer than five employees cited problems taking parental leave. That share fell to 30. Among female contract workers the figure reached 70.2 percent.
Over 41 percent of respondents also said they could not freely take maternity leave. Male workers and senior managers were more likely than others to report they could use both benefits without restriction. The survey was commissioned by Gapjil 119 and carried out by Global Research.
Gapjil 119 said the effectiveness of leave policies depends on company size, employment status and wage levels, and called for a workplace culture that allows maternity and parental leave to be used freely.
