영유아 가구 양육비용 및 육아서비스 이용 실태 조사: KICCE 소비실태조사 2025: 하권

Abstract

Reports for the 『KICCE Spending Survey_2025』 study were prepared separately into the 'survey' and 'analysis' parts to improve readability and completeness. As the present report belongs to the latter part, it concerns mainly with basic and in-depth analyses employing the data that has been compiled up to this point. The basic analysis consists largely of the spending practices and childcare costs of households with young children, usage of childcare services, and take-up of support measures for childcare time. We present figures using time series data, focusing on changes that have occurred from 2018 to 2024. In-depth analyses looked at themes such as 'Policy Proposals for Supporting Households with Young Children in Rural Communities' and the 'Efficacy of the Parental Allowance (Cohort Analysis)'.

1. Key Findings from the Basic Analysis of the KICCE Spending Survey (2018~2024) Data 1) Childcare Costs -The per-household monthly average child-rearing costs (nominal terms) among households with young children in 2024 was 3,888,000 KRW, up 113,000 KRW compared to 2023. ∙However, when calculated in real terms, living expenditures in 2024 stood at 3,391,000 KRW, slightly down from 3,395,000 KRW in 2023. 2) Use of Childcare Services -Take-up rates for childcare centers dropped slightly from 51.1% in 2018 to 49.5% in 2024. Over the same period, use of kindergartens remained fairly stable, going from 27.7% to 27.9%. ∙On the other hand, use of facilities offering half-day or longer programs rose sharply from 18.0% in 2018 to 27.6% in 2020, before falling again to 21.4% as of 2024. ∙For childcare centers and kindergartens in 2024, the weekly average hours of usage of half-day or longer facilities by young children and infants ranged from 35 to 36 hours. Usage hours of half-day or longer study centers varied over the years, ranging from 28 to 35 hours. ∙For young children and infants who made use of half-day or longer childcare centers and kindergartens, no substantial changes were observed in the monthly average costs. In contrast, costs for half-day or longer study centers fell somewhat compared to the 7thwave(2024). -Looking at the usage of part-time education over the years, usage was concentrated on short-term study centers (23.2%), visit-type workbooks (23.2%), and culture centers (12.1%) while 57.7% of respondents reported not using any part-time education. ∙Weekly average hours of short-term study center use fluctuated over the years, settling at 4.3 hours as of the 7thwave(2024). ∙In 2024, the usage of part-time education by young children and infants was concentrated on physical education (61.9%) and art (35.4%) in the case of short-term study centers. Usage of visit-type workbooks were more scholastically inclined, consisting mainly of Korean language (44.3%) and math / science (28.9%). ∙Looking at the monthly average costs spent on part-time education, costs for short-term study centers rose steadily over the years, starting at 134,000 KRW in the 1st wave (2018), rising to 207,000 KRW by the 7th wave (2024).

-Usage of part-time temporary care was highest in the 1st wave (2018) at 1.9%. This fluctuated over the years, settling at 1.3% as of the 7th wave (2024). ∙Monthly average costs and duration per session of part-time temporary care also fluctuated over the years, settling at an average of 13.5 sessions and 4.0 hours per session as of the 7th wave (2024), the highest levels observed. ∙Monthly average costs of part-time temporary care remained steady under 70,000 KRW from the 1st (2018) to 5th (2018) waves. This jumped to 136,000 KRW in the 6th wave (2023), falling slightly to 116,000 KRW in the 7th wave (2024). -Among all young children and infants, the usage of at least one type of individual care service stood at 11.9% as of 2024. While this figure has fluctuated since 2019, it has remained largely at the low 10% range. ∙The most frequently-reported providers of temporary care were grandparents, representing more than 60% of responses across all waves. This was followed by MoGEF-provided caregivers except for the 3rd wave (2020). Usage of private caregivers ranged from 6.5 to 8.7% (except for the 3rd wave), rising somewhat to 10.3% as of the 7th wave (2024). -Looking at the daily average number of hours spent on in-home childrearing, the figure was around 8 hours on weekdays and 13 hours on weekends. The number of hours parents spent directly on childbearing was around 7.9 hours on weekdays and 13.1 hours on weekends. ∙Time spent by young children on media use as of 2024 was 1.1 hours on weekdays and 1.7 hours on weekends, following a gradual downward trend over the years. ∙Usage of toy rental services was highest at 8.9% in 2023, while usage of book rentals rose gradually over the years to reach its highest figure of 19.3% in 2024.

-Looking at the providers of parental support services, childcare centers, kindergartens, and half-day or longer facilities represented the majority. As of 2024, 12.4% of parents had made use of parental training, 16.4% of parental counseling, while less than 1.0% reported making use of childrearing mentorship. ∙Parental training services mainly involved 'childrearing methods' while 'information regarding the growth and development of young children' dominated in the cases of parental counseling and childrearing mentorship.

3) Utilization Status and Demand for Improvements regarding Policies Supporting Childrearing Time -Looking at the use history of days off / leave among parents of young children and infants from a longitudinal view, take-up among both mothers and fathers increased year by year, almost doubling over a 4-year period. -Looking at the take-up of family care schemes longitudinally across the 4th to 6th waves, use of family care leave tended to decrease among both mothers and fathers. Take-up of family care days off gradually rose among fathers only to decrease by the 7th wave, while take-up among mothers followed a gradual upward trend. -In addition to legally guaranteed days off, workplace-provided schemes such as shorter work hours, childcare leave, childcare days off saw a rising frequency of availability in the responses among both mothers and fathers in 2024. -Looking at the use of flexible working arrangements among parents longitudinally across the 4th to 7th waves, use of in-home / remote work tended to decrease while shorter / flexible work hours and other arrangements tended to increase slightly. -Compared to 2023, 2024 saw an overall increase in awareness regarding the need to improve childcare leave schemes.

2. Policy Proposals for Supporting Households with Young Children in Rural Communities 1) Motivation and Overview of this In-Depth Analysis -This in-depth analysis is organized largely as a comparative analysis of 2024's rural booster sample and the main survey's sample. Aspects compared include the household finances and childcare costs of households with young children, costs of childcare services, the perceived sufficiency of local childcare services and infrastructure, and needs regarding childcare support. -Most questions are organized so as to compare the responses between the rural booster sample and the main survey's sample, looking at summary descriptive statistics. -Analysis regarding the perceived sufficiency of local childcare services and infrastructure included not only a comparison of descriptive statistics but also OLS regression and Oaxaca decomposition.

2) Household Finances and Childcare Costs among Rural (Booster Sample) Households -The monthly average living expenses among rural (booster sample) households was 3,325,000 KRW, which as 193,000 KRW lower than that among the main survey (all households with young children) sample. The monthly average per-child childcare expenses among the booster sample households was 699,000 KRW, which was 86,000 KRW lower than that among the main survey sample (785,000 KRW). -Looking at type of residence, most (63.0%) households of the booster sample resided in apartments, followed by single-family homes (21.6%), multi-family homes (13.6%), commercial buildings (1.2%), and other (0.6%). The most frequently used form of childcare service was the childcare center (62.6%), followed by kindergartens (23.2%). Additionally, about 14.2% of the children were making no use of any half-day or longer facilities.

-Compared to their urban counterparts, households with young children residing in rural areas tended to feel that childcare support services and infrastructure were inadequate. Oaxaca decomposition results suggest that, overall, discriminatory effects had a somewhat stronger influence compared to endowment effects. -Looking at in-demand types of childcare service support, most respondents (45.1%) felt that in-cash supports such as childcare allowance were inadequate, followed by support for childcare time, such as childcare leave (25.3%), and in-kind support of childrearing supplies such as diapers (10.5%). -We conducted in-depth interviews with 2 groups of rural households with young children (total of 10 individuals), the top perceived priority among respondents was accessibility to medical services, followed by the safety of the living environs, and the need for institutional improvements (inter-regional cooperation) and transportation accessibility so as to share the childcare infrastructure provided by nearby communities.

3. Take-up of Government Subsidies among Households with Young Children and the Efficacy of the Parental Allowance 1) Motivation and Overview of this In-Depth Analysis -The purpose of this in-depth analysis was to ascertain how the parental allowance affected the childcare cost burden among households with young children. In particular, amid the increase in allowance payouts, we sought to focus on sufficiency in covering childcare costs as perceived among households with young children. -Using data covering the 3-year period since the parental allowance was introduced (2022 to 2024), we conducted cohort analysis to control for the effect of children's age over time.

2) Receipt Status of Government Subsidies among Households with Young Children -For children born in 2021 or earlier, only 5.6% of respondents opted for home care allowance while 94.4% opted for childcare costs / Nuri Curriculum support. For children born in 2022 or later, the majority of respondents (44.7%) opted for parental allowance payment fully in cash. 22.3% of respondents were not eligible for the allowance. For children born in 2024, most respondents opted for payment fully in cash, while there was a clear tendency for the cash + voucher option as the children grew. -Most (67.7%) of the allowance was spent on food, followed by personal maintenance (52.8%). Likewise for the First Encounter Voucher, while most (47.1%) was spent on food, a substantial share of respondents reported using it on postpartum care (40.7%). Regarding how cash-type subsidies helped alleviate the childcare cost burden, there was a higher incidence of 'very helpful' responses compared to 2023.

3) Analysis of the Efficacy of the Parental Allowance -Amid the gradual increase in the sum of the in-cash allowance payment from 2022 to 2024, later cohorts saw greater efficacy of the parental allowance in alleviating childcare costs. -While among households with newborns, a higher proportion of in-cash allowance payment was associated with lower perceived sufficiency in covering childcare costs, this difference was not significant among households with 1-year old children. -As later cohorts saw higher levels of in-cash parental allowance payment, there was a marked alleviatory effect on childcare cost burdens. This result underscores to the need to implement the parental allowance system in a stable manner. -To alleviate childcare cost burdens in the future among households with young children, there will need to be differentiated levels of support targeting households with higher actual need for support. Based on the findings of our analyses, we propose the following measures for improving relevant policies.

-Revamping the support system for in-cash support to households with young children and infants ∙Need to reduce the gap in support levels between parental and child allowance ∙Consider introducing support in the form of 'child allowance plus' ∙Need to introduce a system for in-cash support that is pegged to inflation -Support measures for alleviating childcare cost burdens ∙Strengthening corporate support for managing the affordability of essential childcare supplies ∙Support toward low-income households -Strengthening the actual efficacy of childcare time support measures such as extended care ∙Need to improve accessibility and ease of use for morning / evening care and extended care ∙Strengthening the actual efficacy of childcare time support systems -Strengthening support to prevent excessive use of part-time private education ∙De-incentivizing the use of part-time private education by steadily providing high-quality care services -Strengthening support for rural households with young children ∙Enhancing accessibility to healthcare / medical services and linking these up with emergency care services ∙Strengthening accessibility and ease of use of culture / recreation services tailored to local residential area characteristics, while also strengthening support for households with multiple children ∙Strengthening support for transportation / mobility services ∙Stimulating awareness of relevant policies and participation in childcare communities