[Exclusive] The 'Eung-ae' Cry Greatly Reduced in Large Corporations... How Many Children Were Born in 5 Years? [K Population Strategy]

(4) Analysis of Maternity Leave Benefit Recipients in Top 100 Sales Companies
Number of Female Maternity Leave Users Down 22.91% Over 5 Years...Top 1-10 Down 32.8%
'2-Year Rebound' Group: Gender Equality Top Scorers Say Family-Friendly Policies Are "No Burden"

Editor's NoteThe key to solving South Korea's population problem lies within companies. A corporate atmosphere that evaluates employees based on work regardless of gender and a family-friendly culture are crucial to addressing the K-population issue. Although low birth rates are influenced by multiple factors, it is important to ensure that workplace burdens do not become obstacles that make people hesitate to have children. Asia Economy visited companies leading family-friendly policies to identify the factors that enabled stable establishment of these systems and plans to explore various approaches with companies facing practical challenges. Through this, we aim to encourage change starting from companies and analyze the government's role in making this possible. We listen to voices emphasizing that company culture and atmosphere that reduce psychological burdens rather than just financial support are key, and propose alternatives from various perspectives.

The number of children born to female employees at the 'Top 10 Revenue Companies' has dropped by more than 30% over the past five years. This underscores that even if companies maintain high levels of female employment indicators and have well-established family-friendly systems, the atmosphere must also be conducive to actual implementation for childbirth decisions to be made.

On the 9th, Asia Economy requested and analyzed data on the 'Status of Maternity Leave Benefit Recipients at the Top 100 Revenue Companies over the Past Five Years' from the Ministry of Employment and Labor through the office of Lee Ju-hwan, a member of the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee from the People Power Party. This indicator shows the number of female employees who took maternity leave, allowing estimation of the number of children born to female employees in that year. The number of children born in families of male employees at the top 100 revenue companies was excluded from the count because spousal paternity leave benefits are only supported for workers at priority support companies (manufacturing with 500 or fewer employees, construction with 300 or fewer employees).

Analyzing the top 100 revenue companies divided into groups of ten, the number of female employees taking maternity leave at the top 10 companies decreased from 3,357 in 2018 to 2,255 in 2022, a 32.83% drop. This decline exceeds the overall 22.91% decrease among the top 100 companies by about 10 percentage points. After a sharp 20.05% drop in 2019 compared to the previous year, the number continued to decline annually. The top 10 revenue companies include leading domestic conglomerates such as Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Company, Kia, S-Oil, SK Hynix, Hyundai Mobis, LG Electronics, Samsung C&T, LG Display, and Hyundai Steel.

It is significant that the childbirth indicators of these 10 representative companies, expected to have well-established family-friendly systems, do not even reach the average of the top 100 companies. For working life not to at least hinder childbirth decisions, companies must maintain high levels of female employment indicators, as confirmed by Asia Economy's analysis of the five major gender equality indices (female regular employees, length of service, salary, status and growth rate of internal and external directors), and the workplace culture must be close to one where men and women work without distinction. Employment stability, income levels, and career advancement opportunities for men and women should be similar relative to ability, reducing uncertainty for couples planning to return to work after childbirth and for men and women planning childcare through leave.

Samsung Electronics, the top revenue company, ranked only 21st in Asia Economy's comprehensive score of the five major gender equality indices among the top 100 companies (see Asia Economy June 8, pages 2 and 3). Hyundai Motor Company, ranked second in revenue, did not even enter the top 30, and Kia barely made it to 30th place. The top 1 to 10 companies, which have many employees, also led the overall decrease in female maternity leave takers among the top 100 companies. The number of female employees taking maternity leave at the top 100 companies decreased every year from 6,856 in 2018 to 6,016 in 2019, 5,524 in 2020, 5,518 in 2021, and 5,285 in 2022. The number of female regular employees at these companies increased by 3.8% over five years.

Whether family-friendly systems exist beyond mere presence and whether an atmosphere free of hesitation in using them has been created is also a key factor. This can be seen not only in Group 1 but also in Group 3 (ranked 21?30). A notable point in Group 3 is that it is the only group where the number of maternity leave takers increased for two consecutive years recently. Although the absolute numbers were not large due to more than half of the companies being in construction and steel/metal industries with relatively fewer female employees, the number rose from 260 in 2020 to 308 in 2021 and 338 in 2022, increases of 18.46% and 9.74%, respectively. Compared to 2018, this is an 11.92% increase in 2022.

Among the five companies excluding construction and steel/metal industries, four ranked high in Asia Economy's comprehensive gender equality scores: CJ CheilJedang (13th), Lotte Shopping (14th), Hanwha Solutions (16th), and CJ Logistics (20th). These four companies also stood out for their family-friendly policies in their sustainability management reports (ESG reports) published last year. Above all, during the reporting process for this year-round project, a common voice was heard from these companies: "Not only do we have male parental leave and flexible work systems, but the overall company atmosphere is such that there is no burden in using these benefits."

Although the top 100 companies account for only 0.0013% of the total 7,723,867 companies in South Korea (as of 2021), they represent a relatively high proportion in terms of women's careers and childbirth. In 2022, 5,285 employees at the top 100 companies received maternity leave benefits, accounting for 7.20% of all recipients that year (73,387). However, this proportion has also declined from 8.97% in 2018 to 8.21% in 2019, 7.79% in 2020, 7.74% in 2021, and 7.20% in 2022.

In the following articles, we will introduce actual cases where institutional support such as parental leave freely available to men and flexible work systems that help balance work and childcare have positively impacted company management, not only in large corporations but also in small and medium-sized enterprises, which make up 99.87% of domestic companies. Despite challenging realities, we will analyze what efforts made this possible, whether there were obstacles to establishment, and how they were overcome, hoping to provide hints for changes throughout workplaces.

Special Reporting Team 'K-Population Strategy ? Gender Equality is the Answer'

Reporters Yuri Kim, Hyunju Lee, Hyunjin Jung, Aeri Boo, Byungseon Gong, Juni Park, Seungseop Song; Economic and Financial Editor Pilsoo Kim