Working Mom Employment Rate Hits Record High of 60%... Number of Career-Interrupted Women Decreases by 48,000

The employment rate of working women, or 'working moms,' in the first half of this year reached an all-time high, while the number of women experiencing career interruptions decreased. This is analyzed as a result of a steady increase in women holding quality jobs such as professional positions, leading to more women continuing to work even after marriage.

According to the '2023 First Half Regional Employment Survey on the Employment Status of Married Women' released by Statistics Korea on the 21st, among 7.943 million married women aged 15 to 54, 2.609 million were so-called 'working moms' living with children under 18. Although the number of working moms decreased by 13,000 compared to a year ago, the employment rate rose by 2.2 percentage points during the same period to 60.0%, marking the highest level since statistics began in 2016. Regardless of having children, the overall employment rate of married women aged 15 to 54 was 64.3%, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous year, showing a record high.

Employment rates by age group were 67.3% for ages 50-54, 65.1% for 45-49, 61.0% for 40-44, 57.2% for 35-39, and 52.7% for 30-34, indicating higher employment rates in older age groups. Employment rates by number of children increased by 1.5 percentage points to 61.2% for one child, 2.7 percentage points to 59.3% for two children, and 3.7 percentage points to 56.6% for three or more children. Im Kyung-eun, head of the Employment Statistics Division at the Social Statistics Bureau of Statistics Korea, analyzed, "As the proportion of college graduates steadily increases, women in their 20s and 30s hold more professional or quality jobs than previous generations, which leads to a continuous trend of maintaining employment."

The number of unemployed married women was 2.837 million, down 190,000 from the previous year. Among them, women experiencing career interruptions numbered 1.349 million, a decrease of 48,000 compared to the previous year. The proportion of married women aged 15 to 54 experiencing career interruptions was 17.0%, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous year. The rate of career interruptions has been steadily decreasing, with 19.2% in 2019, 17.6% in 2020, and 17.4% in 2021.

The primary reason for career interruption among women was childcare (42.0%), followed by marriage (26.2%), pregnancy and childbirth (23.0%), children's education (4.4%), and family care (4.3%). While the number of married women leaving jobs due to marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare decreased, the number of women leaving work due to children's education increased by 10,000 to 60,000 compared to last year.

The duration of career interruption was longest for those interrupted for 10 years or more at 539,000 (40.0%), followed by 5 to less than 10 years at 325,000 (24.1%), 3 to less than 5 years at 178,000 (13.2%), less than 1 year at 155,000 (11.5%), and 1 to less than 3 years at 152,000 (11.2%). Compared to the previous year, those interrupted for less than 1 year increased by 36,000, while those interrupted for 10 years or more (-33,000), 5 to less than 10 years (-31,000), and 3 to less than 5 years (-20,000) decreased respectively.