Economic crisis and women’s labor force return after childbirth: Evidence from South Korea

Cohort fertility decline in low fertility countries: Decomposition using parity progression ratios

“…At the same time, gender roles within the family have remained far more traditional than in Europe (Jones, Straughan, and Chan 2008) and, until recently, family policies mostly focused on financial incentives that did not promote the reconciliation of work and family. For women, having children usually implies quitting the labour market (Ma 2014;Rindfuss, Choe, and Brauner-Otto 2016). In addition, the social pressure to invest in children's education is stronger than anywhere else in the world, further nurturing the trend towards higher childlessness and more one-child families.…”

Ultra-low fertility in South Korea: The role of the tempo effect

“…Moreover, irregular and part-time jobs in Korea are not most widespread among young adults as in most other rich countries, but among women in their 40s and 50s who return to the labor market after a 'gap' due to family and childrearing responsibilities (Grubb, Lee, and Tergeist 2007). Second, Ma (2014) shows that while labor market conditions deteriorated after 1997, women's attachment to the labor market strengthened. She argues that the economic crisis both increased the need for additional income in uncertain times, and thus led to a higher appreciation of women's employment and earnings by their male partners, but it also fostered a stronger attachment of women to the labor market.…”

“…As a result, more women returned to employment without interruption soon after giving birth. Third, mothers returning to the labor market in the decade since 1997 experienced marked downward mobility, typically taking jobs with lower occupational status after their return (Ma 2014). Fourth, the 2000s also saw changes in women's attitudes to family and marriage.…”

“…However, labor market opportunities for younger people, especially women, deteriorated after 1997, and this trend occurred in tandem with a stronger attachment of married women to employment. The Korean labor market has long been characterized by very long working hours, a male-oriented work culture, a huge gender pay gap -with women's average earnings amounting to 62% of male wages in 2014 (OECD 2017) -but also a very high share of female labor force in self-employment and high rates of 'nonregular' (temporary and nonstandard) work contracts (León, Choi, and Ahn 2016;Grubb, Lee, and Tergeist 2007;Ma 2013Ma , 2014.…”

“…Such a trend has been observed in Japan, the first East Asian country experiencing very low fertility, during the last decade when the period TFR rose gradually from a low of 1.25 in 2005 to 1.46 in 2015. An extensive body of literature has studied socioeconomic factors contributing to fertility decline in Korea, such as costs of education, educational expansion, economic recession, labor market conditions, public policies, and a change in women's position, gender roles, values, and attitudes (Anderson and Kohler 2013;Choe and Park 2006;Eun 2007;Jun 2005;Kim 2007;Kim 2005Kim , 2013Kim 2014;Kwon 2007;Ma 2013Ma , 2014Ma , 2016Park, Lee, and Jo 2013;Woo 2012;Yoo 2006Yoo , 2014Kim and Yoo 2016;Tan, Morgan, and Zagheni 2016). However, the nature of ultra-low fertility has not yet been sufficiently explored.…”