Korean construction group Booyoung is offering workers a $75,000 bonus for each baby they produce, one of many eye-catching incentives on offer as politicians and companies grapple with the country’s demographic crisis.
“If Korea’s birth rate remains low, the country will face extinction,” Booyoung chair Lee Joong-keun told employees last month.
South Korea’s total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman is expected to give birth to in her lifetime — fell from 0.78 in 2022 to 0.72 in 2023, according to government figures. It is projected to fall to 0.68 this year, far below the 2.1 the OECD says is necessary to ensure a broadly stable population.
Political leaders have increased promises of financial incentives for prospective parents ahead of parliamentary elections next month, with parties from across the political spectrum announcing proposals ranging from more generous housing allowances and tax breaks to compulsory paternity leave for fathers and extended subsidies for egg-freezing programmes.“Time is running short, I hope every government agency approaches the issues of low birth rates with extraordinary determination,” President Yoon Suk Yeol told ministers in December.
“This is a matter of the country’s survival,” said opposition leader Lee Jae-myung as he announced his party’s programme in January. “It is an imminent challenge right at our doorstep, not a concern in the distant future.”
The effects of the crisis are already being felt. In 2022, the number of South Korean military personnel fell below 500,000 for the first time, while universities and schools reported dwindling student numbers and kindergartens have been converted into nursing homes. Last year, more prams were sold in South Korea for pets than for babies.
South Korean Companies Offer Workers $75K To Have Babies
@LemurTedLibertarian2mos2MO
Why offer money to workers to stop working?
@AmazedTermiteWorking Family2mos2MO
Two-parent home.. one spouse works and the other stays home.. strange concept?
@MajorityRaisinsSocialist2mos2MO
Incentivizing workers to start families for long-term sustainability.
@LovingSardinesNo Labels2mos2MO
South Korea goes pro-natalist. With a fertility rate of 0.68 in 2024 they need to get moving. This should be priority no. 1 for the whole society and no cost should be too great. Most Western countries are heading toward South Korean birth rates so we need to get on it too.
@GeckoBellaLibertarian2mos2MO
Why children aren’t being had in Asian countries is entirely different than why they aren’t in Europe or America. If you applied this strategy in America you’d have the wrong people having kids for the wrong reasons. There’s no one size fits all solution to this.
@BillOfRightsDomGreen2mos2MO
Expand on who are the “wrong people” I want to check something.
@GeckoBellaLibertarian2mos2MO
the types who would only have a child because they're getting a government paycheck.
@RedStateDolphinVeteran2mos2MO
Cut higher rate taxes if you have a kid.. there you go, lots of babies had by those who can afford them
@Bi11R1ghtsArielSocialist2mos2MO
More tax breaks for the rich
@RedStateDolphinVeteran2mos2MO
The middle class actually - rich people don’t clock in and work 9-5.. and poor people don’t pay tax at all
@Bi11R1ghtsArielSocialist2mos2MO
Population replacement is a major potential issue. As it is, middle earners are increasingly unlikely to have children and they / we are exactly the people that should be raising children. More funded childcare, less tax disincentives required
@ISIDEWITH2mos2MO
Would a $75,000 bonus influence your personal decision to have a child, and what are the potential pros and cons?
@9L6ZWPGIndependent2mos2MO
Yes, the money would help me start the family.
@ISIDEWITH2mos2MO
@ISIDEWITH2mos2MO
@MorbidL1beralTranshumanist2mos2MO
There's suggestive evidence here that the 'baby bump' after South Korea hosted the World Cup resulted in babies made by families that might not be as smart, but do seem to be happier.
The kids born in the bump do worse on tests and have better mental health.
Another jock win
@ResilientCabinetNo Labels2mos2MO
I wonder if the West would do something like this in the future
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