ABSTRACT

In 2017, South Korea’s total fertility rate was 1.26 live births per woman, the sixth-lowest in the world. Employment is significantly negatively associated with second births in Korea. To increase fertility rates and help working women better balance work and family lives, a series of government family-supportive workplace policies and employer-provided occupational benefits have been implemented and expanded. The present study examined the effects of family-supportive workplace policies and benefits on boosting working women's fertility intentions in Korea by the current number of children (i.e. parity). Using the 2007–2012 Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families (N = 3,405 working women), the study examined seven family policies and benefits. Results revealed that childcare leave was significantly associated with increasing working women’s first birth intentions. Also, women’s second birth intentions increased significantly when they had more family-supportive provisions at their workplaces. Despite these results, a majority of women perceived the family provisions to be unavailable at their workplaces. The present study underscores that women's fertility decisions differ significantly by parity and informs policymakers in their efforts to develop family provisions that address these differences and make family provisions more readily available.

摘要

2017年，韩国的总生育率为每名妇女1.26个活产婴儿，位居世界第六低。在韩国，就业与二胎显着负相关。为提高生育率，帮助职业女性更好地平衡工作和家庭生活，政府实施和扩大了一系列支持家庭的工作场所政策和雇主提供的职业福利。本研究调查了支持家庭的工作场所政策和福利对提高韩国职业女性生育意愿的影响，目前的子女数量（即平价）。使用 2007-2012 年韩国妇女和家庭纵向调查 ( N = 3,405 名职业女性），该研究检查了七项家庭政策和福利。结果显示，育儿假与增加职业女性的第一次生育意愿显着相关。此外，当女性在工作场所提供更多的家庭支持用品时，她们的第二胎意愿显着增加。尽管有这些结果，但大多数女性认为她们的工作场所无法获得家庭用品。本研究强调，女性的生育决定因均等而存在显着差异，并为政策制定者制定家庭规定以解决这些差异并使家庭规定更容易获得的努力提供信息。