Dad Bonus Program Parental Leave Benefits Raised: Ordinary Wage Increased from 50% to 100% for Up to 6 Months

Up to 2 Million KRW per Month for Months 4 to 6
Up to 1.6 Million KRW per Month from Month 7 Onward

If a worker who previously took three months of parental leave under the dad bonus program uses the remaining parental leave this year, they will receive up to 2 million KRW per month in parental leave benefits for three months. This is the result of the benefit amount being raised from 50% to 100% of the ordinary wage.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor has increased the dad bonus payment from 4 months to 6 months to 100% of the ordinary wage (up to 2 million KRW per month) with this revision, and from the 7th month onward, it will be paid up to 80% of the ordinary wage (up to 1.6 million KRW per month). Getty Images

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that it will hold a legislative notice for 41 days, from May 27 to July 7, for the partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Employment Insurance Act. This amendment raises the dad bonus benefit (Article 95-2 of the Enforcement Decree), which was a temporary special provision for the second parent taking parental leave, to the same level as the general parental leave benefit (Article 95 of the Enforcement Decree).

The dad bonus program is a system designed to promote shared parenting by providing the second parent taking parental leave with 100% of their ordinary wage for the first three months of parental leave. Although this was a temporary program that operated until December 31, 2022, those who were eligible at the time could only receive 50% of their ordinary wage for the period after the fourth month if they used their remaining parental leave now. This created a problem, as the benefit was lower than the general parental leave benefit (100% of ordinary wage) that was raised this year.

With this revision, the Ministry will increase the dad bonus benefit to 100% of the ordinary wage (up to 2 million KRW per month) from the fourth to the sixth month, and to 80% of the ordinary wage (up to 1.6 million KRW per month) from the seventh month onward. The increased dad bonus benefit will apply retroactively to parental leave periods starting from January this year. Through this measure, the Ministry aims to reduce the financial burden on recipients and improve fairness with other parental leave users.

For example, if a worker who took three months of parental leave under the dad bonus program in 2022 uses the remaining 15 months of parental leave from January this year to March next year, they would have received a total of 18 million KRW (1.2 million KRW per month) under the previous system. However, with this revision, they will receive up to 2 million KRW per month from January to March (the fourth to sixth months of parental leave), and up to 1.6 million KRW per month from April to March next year (from the seventh month onward), increasing the total benefit to 25.2 million KRW.

Kwon Jin-ho, Director General of the Integrated Employment Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, stated, "With this amendment, we expect that recipients of the dad bonus benefit will also be able to reduce the income burden associated with taking parental leave," and added, "We will continue to pursue necessary institutional improvements to promote work-life balance in the future."