평등한 돌봄권 보장을 위한 자녀돌봄 시간정책 개선방안 연구(Ⅰ): 고용형태별 돌봄 격차 해소를 중심으로

Abstract

This study aims to identify improvement measures for childcare time policies by examining the current state of child care, along with usage and demand for childcare-related regulations according to different types of employment. Despite the rapid diversification of both employment types and the labor market, there has been insufficient research on the changes in parents' childcare patterns or care support needs according to the diversification of their employment types. In this study, the Korean childcare time support system was divided into a parental leave and a flexible work system, and the main content and usage status of each system were analyzed. Additionally, the overall childcare time support systems of OECD countries were reviewed, and the cases of Sweden, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany were analyzed in depth. Furthermore, focus group interviews and questionnaire surveys were conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of the actual conditions related to childcare time by employment types. The focus group interview was conducted with six groups consisting of non-regular or non-standard workers with children under the age of eight. The results of the focus group interview analysis indicated that the majority of parents with non-standard employment had switched to precarious or non-standard work in order to take care of their children. Moreover, it was found that they changed their jobs in pursuit of more flexible working hours in order to balance work and childcare. However, even within the non-standard employment group, the reality and dynamic of work and childcare varied greatly depending on the type of occupation or employment. The survey was conducted among 1,637 working parents with children under the age of eight. An analysis of the characteristics of childcare time by employment types indicated that regular, full-time workers had the shortest actual childcare time on working days, whereas their spouses had the longest childcare time. Furthermore, the gap between their desired hours and their actual childcare hours was larger than for other forms of employment. Non-regular workers had more childcare time for their own children, and even among non-regular workers, part-time and temporary workers had more childcare time for their own children than regular workers, whereas their spouses had less childcare time. Consequently, part-time and temporary workers had a larger disparity in childcare time between themselves and their spouses. Regardless of the type of employment (i.e., whether regular or non-regular), part-time work was a factor in the longer childcare time. In addition, the actual childcare time of a self-employed individual without employees was longer than their desired childcare time. In terms of employment types, regular workers were well-informed about the childcare time support system and had more experience in using the system. Among the regular workers, part-time workers had less experience in using the system than full-time workers. The usage rate of maternal and paternal leave among non-regular workers was quite low (i.e., less than 30%), and among these workers, the rate of leave usage was lower for part-time and temporary workers than for full-time workers. Self-employed individuals without employees had a lower usage rate of maternal and paternal leave and were the least aware of these leave systems. In general, non-standard workers had lower access to the time support system, and among them, freelancers had the lowest access. Non-regular and non-wage workers had a low utilization rate of parental leave, because many of them were not eligible. This indicates that a large systematic blind spot exists in the parental leave system. According to an in-depth analysis of employment types, the experience of changing jobs to resolve time conflicts related to children varied significantly among employment types, but there were no significant differences in care deficit or difficulties in work and childcare reconciliation. However, employment types differed in their levels of specific difficulty, such as with respect to commuting time and emergency care demand. Among wage workers, regular and full-time workers showed the lowest rate of job change in relation to childcare; meanwhile, non-regular workers had a high rate of job change (63%), but their spouses ranked lowest for rate of job change. Unpaid family workers and single self-employed individual workers without employees showed a high rate of job change. Among non-standard workers, platform workers had the highest rate of change in work due to pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing (71.4%), and the rate was higher in the special type of workers and freelancer groups (60%). By summarizing the research analysis results in this study, the following principal directions of the childcare time policy of ensuring equal care rights for all parents and children are suggested: 1) ensuring the right to childcare as a fundamental social right for all parents and children, 2) enhancing the target inclusiveness and system flexibility of childcare time policy, 3) reflecting various childcare situations and support needs by employment types, and 4) guaranteeing parents’ time sovereignty with respect to their work and childcare. Based upon the suggested principal directions of the childcare time policy, detailed policy measures were suggested by dividing them into the measures “for all working parents” and “by employment types.” First, the childcare time policy measures for all working parents are as follows: 1) flexible application of employment insurance requirements, 2) raising the level of real income security for parental leave benefits, and 3) reinforcement of duties and roles of companies. Second, the childcare time policy measures by employment types are as follows: 1) expansion of the flexible work policy, 2) reinforcement of an unfair treatment prohibition and support for return to work after reinstatement, 3) active promotion of employment insurance subscription and time support system, 4) simplification of proof procedures and documents, 5) childcare service at various times of day, 6) strengthening the linkages with dispatch childcare services, 7) utilization of parenting communities, 8) flexible parental leave benefit system, and 9) avoidance of night shift work by parents during the period of raising young children.