Private-Sector Workers Still Rarely Take Maternity Leave

Some 75 percent of public servants take advantage of paid maternity leave compared to only 35 percent of workers in the private sector, a study finds.

The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs said Tuesday that the study of 788 working women who had their first child after 2011 showed only 41.1 percent of them took maternity leave.

That was a huge improvement compared to only 5.3 percent who had their first baby before 2000, but six out of 10 employed women are still missing out on the benefit.

Civil servants and teachers (75 percent) or employees of state-run firms (66.7 percent) take maternity leave relatively freely, but workers in private companies (34.5 percent) are often reluctant to take time off.

"Only employees of companies offering state unemployment insurance benefits can take maternity leave, so workers at small businesses without such benefits cannot benefit from the measure", a KIHASA spokesman said. "Also, women in some private companies are afraid of losing their jobs if they stay away for extended periods".

The figure was also brought down by women on non-regular contracts. Among regular employees, 46.9 percent took maternity leave, but among contract workers only 1.9 percent.

Park Jong-suh at KIHASA said, "Government policies are needed to boost the number of employers who join the unemployment insurance program for their workers. This could also decrease the number of women who quit their jobs in the middle of their careers to raise children".

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