Even the Bank of Korea Avoids 'Dad Parental Leave'... Usage Rate Only 2%

Bank of Korea Male Employees, Only 2.3% Take Parental Leave
Not Much Different from 5 Years Ago
"Even Keeping Up with Civil Servant Levels Is Challenging"

Although the government is encouraging the use of parental leave by increasing the monthly parental leave allowance to a maximum of 2.5 million won starting next year, the usage rate of paternal parental leave at the Bank of Korea remains at around 2%.

According to data on the "Annual and Gender-wise Parental Leave Usage Status over the Past Five Years" submitted by the Bank of Korea to the office of Kim Young-jin, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, as of the end of September, the number of Bank of Korea employees eligible for parental leave with children aged 8 or younger was 301 men and 210 women. However, the actual number of employees who took parental leave was only 7 men and 73 women.

This means that only 2.3% of men and 34.8% of women applied for parental leave, with approximately 2 out of every 100 male employees actually taking parental leave.

The proportion of men among all parental leave users is also very low. As of the end of September, among 80 employees on parental leave, 7 were men and 73 were women, accounting for about 9% and 91%, respectively. In effect, the majority of parental leave is used by female employees.

The number of female employees applying for parental leave at the Bank of Korea has been increasing every year. The application rate among female employees was only 19% in 2019 but rose to 31.2% in 2022 and 36.6% in 2023. The number of female employees on parental leave steadily increased from 30 in 2019 to 58 in 2022 and 74 in 2023.

In contrast, the application rate among male employees has not changed significantly over the past five years. The male application rate was 2.5% in 2019. Although it seemed to increase during the COVID-19 pandemic to 3.8% in 2021 and 3.2% in 2022, it dropped again to 1.6% in 2023. The number of male employees on parental leave also decreased from 9 in 2019 to 5 in 2023, after briefly reaching double digits in 2021 (13) and 2022 (10).

The use of parental leave by men in South Korea has been increasing annually. According to Statistics Korea, the number of men who took parental leave in 2022 was 54,240, which is 27.6 times higher than the 1,967 men recorded in 2010 when related statistics began. The proportion of men among all parental leave users rose sharply from 2.7% in 2010 to 27.1% in 2022, a tenfold increase.

Previously, the Bank of Korea argued through research that increasing the usage rate of parental leave could improve the birth rate. The Bank of Korea Economic Research Institute estimated in an in-depth study titled "Causes, Effects, and Measures of Extreme Population Structure in Ultra-Low Fertility and Ultra-Aged Societies" that if the actual parental leave usage period matched the OECD average, the birth rate could increase by about 0.096 children. However, South Korea's actual parental leave usage rate is among the lowest in OECD countries, with 48 women and 14.1 men per 100 newborns taking leave as of 2020. The average parental leave usage in 23 OECD countries is 108.3 women and 50 men.

One of the biggest reasons making parental leave difficult to use is concerns about workforce gaps. According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor's 2022 survey on work-family balance, the top reasons for not being able to use parental leave were "increased workload for colleagues and managers" (42.6%), "workplace atmosphere or culture that discourages use" (24.2%), and "difficulty finding replacement personnel" (20.4%).

In particular, men cite disadvantages in performance evaluations, promotions, and income reduction as factors making parental leave difficult. According to a report titled "Disparities and Discrimination in Male Workers' Use of Parental Leave" by the Democratic Labor Research Institute affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, a survey of 1,720 male workers who experienced parental leave found that 85.1% (multiple responses allowed) cited concerns about disadvantages in performance evaluations and promotions, and 80.6% cited income reduction during the leave period as reasons making parental leave difficult to use.

A Bank of Korea official said, "If both parents take leave together, it is difficult to maintain income for economic reasons, so it is hard for both to take parental leave." He added, "While public officials are not disadvantaged in terms of career when taking parental leave, the Bank of Korea still has disadvantages in terms of promotion." He further noted, "It is challenging even to keep up with the level of parental leave for public officials as suggested by the Ministry of Personnel Management or the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission."