출산장려정책의 인지도와 직종에 따른 효과적 출산장려정책에 관한 연구

Abstract

Korea's rapid decrease in the birth rate in the last 40 years is the primary factor contributing to the slowdown of the economy. It is the main obstacle for the country's competitive power and it is also expected to be the cause of many social problems. Thus, the objective of this research is to analyze the cause of the low birth rate and also to analyze the effectiveness of the current birth encouragement policy to increase the diminished birth rate. Past research indicates several of the main causes of the low birth rate. First, there was the rise in the average age of a person's first marriage and an increased number of singles. Social factors such as the rapid industrialization of cities, the rise of women's educational levels, increased desire to work, increases in the cost for raising children, and difficulty of handling both housework and a job are other major contributors, along with a change in values due to the availability of more job opportunities. These aspects show a strong correlation to the low birth rate. Thus, to analyze the factors, this research involved taking a survey of married women working near the Seoul area. Our surveys gathered information on a few key child-related topics : the difference between the number of children they desired and the actual number of children classified by the profession, recognition of the birth encouragement policy classified by the profession, the number of using the policy, a campaign of the policy, and preferred birth encouragement policy classified by the profession. After analyzing the first data set, the difference between the number of the children they desired and the actual number of children they had, we found means of 2.15 and 1.05, respectively, which is approximately one child of difference between the two. The reason for such a large difference was due to the high cost of raising children and the difficulty of managing both job and housework. As for the second data set, recognition of the birth encouragement policy classified by the profession, we found out that the policy was not very effective even though 71.07% of the public employees were familiar with it. This suggests that the current policy in korea was not organized with the useful and effective policy. For the third data set, publicity of the policy, 83.3% of the people said that there is no promotion of the policy, thus the effective promotion classified by the government is required. And for the fourth data set, the preferred birth encouragement policy by the profession, the most preferred one was the policy for compatibility of their jobs and housework. Government support for children was also a highly preferred policy. We also found a difference in policy preference among professions. As the results show, low birth rate was caused by the high cost for raising a child and the non-compatibility of jobs and housework. After the analysis of the low recognition of the policy and the number of the participants in said policy, the reasons for such a low number of participants were the low promotion of the policy and the lack of effectiveness of the policy. Thus, to establish an effective birth encouragement policy, a new policy should be made which encourages improving work environments, and the government should also largely support the cost of child care so that people can find compatibility with their housework and their jobs.