출산수준 제고를 위한 육아지원 내실화 방안 연구

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to suggest measures for enhancing child nurture support in order to tackle the issue of low fertility rates in Korea. This was done by analyzing the present conditions and the needs for nurture, childcare support in the workplace, family and communities and these were focused around the fundamental plans of the second basic plan tasked with dealing with low fertility and Korea’s increasingly ageing society.

The main research methods included a review of previous studies on nurture support in communities and workplaces, interviews with 2,003 parents with infants and children in lower elementary schools across the country, and 1,000 off-line service users of city-province and city-province-borough childcare information centers. In addition, 17 parents with children of the participating age participated in in-depth interviews.

As for the environment, only 27.3% responded with the answer that there was ‘not enough information or knowledge support regarding nurturing', suggesting the need for a portal system for information on nurturing. Working mothers showed a strong tendency to rely on their parents, requiring policy actions. Moreover, for non-working mothers, the results indicated burdens and stress from nurturing their child, indicating their need also for service support.

Reviewing the use and needs for child care and education institutes, the rate of usage of such institutes on every Monday through Friday for infants is much higher(95.9%), requiring policy changes in Saturday child care. This indicates that there is a need for stronger relevance between childcare and active labor market policies for women.

The usage and needs for community institutes are indicative of low accessibility and a lack of supply for childcare information centers or health and family support centers, also indicating low levels of awareness of these institutes. Parents showed the strongest needs for improvements in expanding the space of childcare information centers (31.5%), improving equipment and teaching materials (31.2%), indicating the difficulties for working mothers and families in using such facilities.

The present conditions for working parents support and their needs indicate there career interruption due to birth and nurturing needs within the first year of childbirth still persists. Clearly, the effectiveness of flexible working hours and leaves of absence in workplaces are still low. In addition, the presence of childcare centers in the workplace was the main agents affecting parental decisions in relation to having more children. Support for childcare expenses at the levels of the employer and the workplace was the most pressing need for parents.

The policy suggestions advanced by this paper are as follows. Firstly, for stronger nurture support in families, a comprehensive child care information and counseling system, active child care information centers, a reasonable salary for teachers, the possibility of using public dispatch type of care, systemic management of child care service in families, tax support for informal child care services, stronger support for continuous nurture-helper projects are all needed. Secondly, improving support for working mothers through providing different time choices for childcare services, enhancing the effectiveness for weak childcare through time segment care and stronghold centers for extended hours, linking financial support with teacher salaries and an accreditation system, reasonable financial support for childcare, including extracurricular needs through improving the standard childcare curriculum are all required. Thirdly, there is a clear need to expand selective, flexible working hours, leaves of absence for child nurturing, and workplace child care support to provide improved active nurture support for children with working parents.

The purpose of this study is to suggest measures for enhancing child nurture support in order to tackle the issue of low fertility rates in Korea. This was done by analyzing the present conditions and the needs for nurture, childcare support in the workplace, family and communities and these were focused around the fundamental plans of the second basic plan tasked with dealing with low fertility and Korea’s increasingly ageing society.

The main research methods included a review of previous studies on nurture support in communities and workplaces, interviews with 2,003 parents with infants and children in lower elementary schools across the country, and 1,000 off-line service users of city-province and city-province-borough childcare information centers. In addition, 17 parents with children of the participating age participated in in-depth interviews.

As for the environment, only 27.3% responded with the answer that there was ‘not enough information or knowledge support regarding nurturing', suggesting the need for a portal system for information on nurturing. Working mothers showed a strong tendency to rely on their parents, requiring policy actions. Moreover, for non-working mothers, the results indicated burdens and stress from nurturing their child, indicating their need also for service support.

Reviewing the use and needs for child care and education institutes, the rate of usage of such institutes on every Monday through Friday for infants is much higher(95.9%), requiring policy changes in Saturday child care. This indicates that there is a need for stronger relevance between childcare and active labor market policies for women.

The usage and needs for community institutes are indicative of low accessibility and a lack of supply for childcare information centers or health and family support centers, also indicating low levels of awareness of these institutes. Parents showed the strongest needs for improvements in expanding the space of childcare information centers (31.5%), improving equipment and teaching materials (31.2%), indicating the difficulties for working mothers and families in using such facilities.

The present conditions for working parents support and their needs indicate there career interruption due to birth and nurturing needs within the first year of childbirth still persists. Clearly, the effectiveness of flexible working hours and leaves of absence in workplaces are still low. In addition, the presence of childcare centers in the workplace was the main agents affecting parental decisions in relation to having more children. Support for childcare expenses at the levels of the employer and the workplace was the most pressing need for parents.

The policy suggestions advanced by this paper are as follows. Firstly, for stronger nurture support in families, a comprehensive child care information and counseling system, active child care information centers, a reasonable salary for teachers, the possibility of using public dispatch type of care, systemic management of child care service in families, tax support for informal child care services, stronger support for continuous nurture-helper projects are all needed. Secondly, improving support for working mothers through providing different time choices for childcare services, enhancing the effectiveness for weak childcare through time segment care and stronghold centers for extended hours, linking financial support with teacher salaries and an accreditation system, reasonable financial support for childcare, including extracurricular needs through improving the standard childcare curriculum are all required. Thirdly, there is a clear need to expand selective, flexible working hours, leaves of absence for child nurturing, and workplace child care support to provide improved active nurture support for children with working parents.