[Editorial] Working from home

The government’s campaign to raise the nation’s low fertility rate is not working, based on data for May released by Statistics Korea.

During the six months since December, the number of newborns fell each month compared to a year ago. In May, 34,400 babies were born, a drop of 5.8 percent from a year earlier. Other months saw a similar decline.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare estimates that Korea’s fertility rate in the first half of the year would remain below 1.2.

The data suggests that the government needs to adopt a bolder approach. Yet there are no such signs of it doing so. 

The government has thus far focused on offering incentives to encourage childbirth. Although this approach has not proven very helpful, the government still sticks to it.

This was well demonstrated by top administration officials at a recent policy consultation meeting with members of the parliamentary special committee on demographic problems.

Vice Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said that the government would increase tax credit for parents who have their second and third babies. Currently, it provides 300,000 won ($266) in tax credit for a newborn.

Yet the plan’s efficacy is highly questionable, since most parents with one child give up on having another not because of the cost of raising two kids but because of difficulties in caring for them.

At the meeting, Vice Minister of Employment and Labor Koh Young-sun said the government would provide subfertile couples with three days of unpaid leave a year so that they could receive treatment.

This would be of some help to subfertile couples, but it is unlikely to significantly boost fertility rate.

The most urgent and important thing the government should do is to reform the workplace culture in Korea that prevents employees from balancing work and family life.

In this regard, government officials can learn from the rapid increase in telecommuting in Japan. In June, Toyota Motor surprised many by announcing a plan to allow roughly 25,000 employees to work from home starting August.

Toyota is rolling out the program partly because it will enable male workers to spend more time raising children and help female employees go back to work after giving birth.

Telecommuting is also more environmentally friendly and time efficient.

Toyota is not alone in embracing telecommuting. Many of Japan’s largest corporations, including its top three banks, are ready to introduce a similar program.

Working from home is a good way to drastically change Korea’s outdated workplace culture. The Korean government needs to push companies to embrace it.