[Inside Chodong]My Answer is "No"

Survey on 100 Million Won Cash Childbirth Support Sparks Debate
Focusing Only on a 'Fertility Rate Rebound' Is Risky
Untangling the Complex Causes of Low Birthrate, One by One

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier this year, the newsroom was abuzz with the unexpected talk of "100 million won." This was due to Booyoung Group implementing an employee childbirth incentive program that pays 100 million won for each child born since 2021. At the time, we were actively publishing articles related to the year-round project "K Population Strategy ? Gender Equality is the Answer," organized by a task force (TF) addressing population issues. Naturally, conversations with people we met around then revolved around the topic of "it all comes down to 100 million won."

"Would you have a child if you were given 100 million won?" a senior colleague asked me on a particularly chilly morning commute. Thinking about it, I felt a chill not just from the cold but from the complexity of deciding to have a child. There are numerous factors that outweigh money when it comes to deciding to have a child, making it difficult to even know where to start.

At a time when the total fertility rate was plummeting endlessly and everyone was proposing low birthrate countermeasures, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI) published a "Policy Proposal to Increase Fertility Rates" report that seemed to voice my own frustrated feelings. The report focused especially on the "unique characteristics of Korea" as causes of the fertility decline.

These characteristics are, first, the rapid increase in Korean women's participation in society; second, the rise in dual-income households; and third, the rigidity of the Korean labor market. SGI particularly pointed out the dual structure of the primary market (large corporations and regular employees) and the secondary market (small and medium enterprises or non-regular workers) as an obstacle. The movement between the primary and secondary markets is cut off, making it difficult to re-enter jobs at a similar level after career breaks due to childbirth and childcare.

Now to the main point. "Concentration in the metropolitan area and high housing costs" were also analyzed as prominent issues in Korea. The real estate problem is so severe that it’s almost painful to talk about. Various infrastructures such as education, healthcare, and leisure are concentrated in the metropolitan area, and the average sale price of apartments in Seoul, favored by young people, reached 1.051 billion won as of last month.

The finale was decorated by "investment in children and intense competition." When the conversation extends from real estate to children’s education, the situation becomes extremely complicated. Parents’ desire to elevate their children’s social status through private education and the overheated competition caused by a lack of quality jobs despite high educational attainment are cited as causes of low birthrates. After hearing all this, one might feel it’s better to quietly give up on solving the low birthrate problem rather than untangling this complex knot. Yet, since we cannot just give up, I feel compelled to ask again: Would you have a child if you were given 100 million won? If many say yes, I want to channel Ha Do-young from the drama "The Glory" and turn the low birthrate issue into "the easiest problem in the world to solve with money."

Perhaps that’s why the online world is buzzing again about "100 million won." This time, it’s not just companies but the government. The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission is conducting a public survey on directly providing 100 million won in cash as a childbirth support fund to overcome the low birthrate crisis, sparking heated debates. Although the Commission drew a line by saying this survey is merely a process to gather public opinion for policy proposal considerations, the uneasy feeling cannot be hidden. It’s a different story when it’s the government’s move, not an individual company’s decision.

Just because the total fertility rate is drawing a downward curve and causing alarm doesn’t mean we should focus solely on a short-term rebound in the graph to achieve immediate results. Ignoring the many factors behind the low birthrate and relying only on "tempting money" that is far from sustainable child-rearing is risky. Beyond the graph are people, especially the next generation who will be the future protagonists of Korea. We must not forget that tangled issues still lie beyond them.