South Korean Public Institutions To Hire 1,000 Regular Workers In Support Of The Maternity Leave Policy

The Finance Ministry of South Korea announced on Monday that the government has decided to employ more substitute workers to cover for the civil servants who are on maternity leave.

According to Korea Herald, the government aims to increase the substitution rate of those on parental leave from 60 percent to 80 percent by 2016, resulting to 1,000 open positions for unemployed South Koreans.

The number of employees taking parental leave in government institutions has reportedly been increasing from 3,679 in 2011 to 5,183 in 2014. Their positions are apparently left vacant or replaced temporarily by substitute workers under terms of service lasting for less than two years.

"If a government institution spends more than the predetermined hiring budget, it brings down that institution's overall rating," explained the Finance Ministry.

The ministry, therefore, plans to allot a larger budget for employing substitute workers and reshape the institution rating system before the year ends.

The Korea JoongAng Daily also noted that the government's initiative to hire 1,000 full-time regular workers will not only benefit those who are currently unemployed, but will also encourage their employees to go on a break for as long as they need to in order to take care of their children.

In fact, among the major concerns why women in South Korea, despite the country's low fertility birth rate of 1.3 children per woman, is hesitant about raising more children are the maternity leave programs and the office environment and practices at firms, noted Korea Bang on Dec. 24, 2013.

Most of these women are concerned about how their bosses would take their absences and how it could affect their jobs and their colleagues' workload.

The government's move aims to alleviate the worries of employees on missing their chances of being promoted or being permanently replaced after taking their much-needed leave. Also, in 2014, the positions of 40 percent of the employees who went on leave were either replaced by irregular workers or were left vacant, consequently piling up the workloads of their colleagues.

"The measures are expected to encourage more female workers to take maternity leave, while minimizing the impact of their absence," an official said.