Announcement of Additional Measures for Low Birthrate
Public and Private Workplace Childcare Centers Opened to Local Residents
50% Reduction in Vehicle Acquisition Tax for Families with Two Children
The government announced additional support measures to the 'Measures to Reverse the Low Birthrate Trend' announced last June, including increasing the K-Pass refund rate to 50% for families with three or more children and expanding the automobile acquisition tax reduction benefits to families with two or more children. A plan to open national and public workplace daycare centers to local residents was also prepared.
On the 30th, the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy (PCASP) and related ministries such as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport held the 3rd Emergency Population Countermeasure Meeting to review the implementation status of the 'Measures to Reverse the Low Birthrate Trend' announced last June and announced additional measures.
First, an additional plan was prepared to open national and public workplace daycare centers to local residents. In government offices such as those in Seoul, Sejong, Gwacheon, and Daejeon, if there is spare capacity compared to the enrollment quota, national and public workplace daycare centers will be opened to local residents. In areas lacking childcare facilities, procedures will be simplified to allow religious facilities to be used as gap childcare facilities. For 65 cooperative workplace daycare centers, additional operating expenses will be provided to respond to urgent childcare needs such as hospital accompaniment and guidance for returning home.
Support for newlywed and childbirth households has also been expanded. Over the next two years (2024?2025), the number of purchased rental units supplied for newlywed and childbirth households will increase by 20,000 units from the 40,000 units announced in the June measures, totaling 60,000 units. For private and public sales, local governments will be allowed to allocate units for special supply purposes under the 'Response to Low Birthrate and Aging Society' policy, and the area restriction for private sales will be relaxed to allow units larger than the previous limit of 85㎡.
Benefits for multi-child families have also increased. To reduce the public transportation costs burden for multi-child families, the K-Pass refund rate will be raised from the existing 20% to 30% for two-child families and 50% for families with three or more children. The income bracket for national scholarship support will be raised from the existing 8 brackets to 9 brackets, providing additional support to about 500,000 people. The automobile acquisition tax reduction benefit for multi-child families will be expanded from families with three children to those with two or more children, and a 50% reduction rate will be applied to two-child families included in the additional support target.
The colleague work-sharing support fund, which was only used for reduced working hours during childcare, will now also provide additional support during parental leave. The wage ceiling for reduced working hours during childcare will be raised from the existing 2 million KRW per month to 2.2 million KRW.
Additionally, to support local governments' responses to low birthrate, a low birthrate item will be newly established with a 25% weight in the criteria for the allocation of real estate grant tax.
The government announced plans to propose an amendment to the Act on Gender Equality in Employment next month for additional measures on 53 tasks and to smoothly operate pilot projects for major tasks such as the introduction of foreign domestic workers starting in September. Regarding housing support, the government plans to expand housing supply for newlywed and childbirth households and ease subscription requirements through subordinate law revisions. From the end of September, to ensure the smooth launch of the Population Strategy Planning Department, a joint task force for establishing the Population Strategy Planning Department will be formed and operated with related ministries.
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