[2024 Women’s Forum] Joo Hyung-hwan, Senior Vice Chairman, "Exploring Measures to Expand Gender Equality in the Labor Market"

Joo Hyung-hwan, Vice Chairman of the Low Birthrate and Aging Society Committee, is delivering a congratulatory speech at the 2024 Women Leaders Forum hosted by Asia Economy at Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul, on the 30th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

Joo Hyung-hwan, Vice Chairman of the Low Fertility and Aging Society Committee, stated on the 30th, “We are exploring ways to expand gender equality in the labor market while activating support systems to reduce parents' (childcare) time burden.”

Vice Chairman Joo made these remarks in a congratulatory speech at the ‘2024 Women Leaders Forum’ hosted by Asia Economy, held at the Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul, on the same day.

Vice Chairman Joo said, “Our society is facing the triple crisis of ultra-low birthrate, ultra-aged society, and ultra-population cliff. Even if the birthrate rebounds, labor supply will only expand 20 to 30 years later,” adding, “We must view the decline in the working-age population as a fixed future and reorganize the labor market focusing on women, youth, the elderly, and immigrants.”

He continued, “Experts unanimously agree that increasing the female employment rate, which is more than 10% lower than that of advanced countries, is the fastest and most certain solution to Korea’s declining working-age population,” and analyzed, “If the economic participation rate of women in their 30s and 40s rises to the level of Japan, related research shows that the scale of labor input, considering productivity, could maintain the current level of the 90% range over the next 20 years.”

He emphasized, “Increasing women’s economic participation and closing the income gap are direct responses to the labor force decline caused by low birthrates and ultimately fundamental solutions to reverse the low birthrate trend.”

To this end, Vice Chairman Joo mentioned that everyone would be able to utilize work-family balance systems when needed. He introduced, “We have introduced a short-term parental leave system that can be used for two weeks for the first time, and raised the upper limit of parental leave benefits so that people can use it without worrying about income or feeling pressured,” and added, “We are preparing and implementing work-family balance measures, such as expanding substitute labor support funds to firmly support the burden on small and medium-sized enterprises.”

He also said, “In addition to expanding policy support for work-family balance systems, it is important to improve awareness and culture to solve structural problems such as gender discrimination in the labor market,” and explained, “Above all, in addition to the government’s will and efforts, improvements in the awareness and practices of companies and society are also necessary.”

Finally, Vice Chairman Joo stated, “Companies need to figure out how to maintain efficiency while securing flexibility in working hours, how to prevent talented women from leaving the labor market, and how men can share childcare fairly while remaining productive,” adding, “To solve the increasingly severe labor structure situation in the future, the work-family balance system must operate differently from before.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.