Childcare support blind spot

[Anchor]

This is a segment where we address various issues regarding low birth rates.

Today (May 7), we will look into the reality faced by self-employed individuals and their children.

While office employees have seen significant improvements in maternity leave and parental leave systems, the 6 million self-employed individuals across the country are still left in a blind spot.

Reporter Hong Seong-hee has the story.

[Report]

This man, who runs a chicken restaurant, works from daytime until dawn without being able to take weekends off.

He couldn't close his shop even when his child was born.

[Pi Se-jun/Self-employed: "When the baby was born, I continued to run the business, going back and forth to the hospital..."]

While he thought about reducing his working hours after discussions with his wife, a working mom of three children, he found it daunting.

He strongly wished he had parental leave benefits.

[Pi Se-jun/Self-employed: "I have almost no memories with my children, so it's times like this I often feel regret about having my own business."]

Delivery motorcycle drivers lose income if they take even a day off.

Under conditions where she can't even properly care for her child when he is sick, she has never even dreamed of taking parental leave.

[Jo Hee-min/Delivery Driver: "He often asks what time mom is coming home today. He often asks if I'm coming home early. As a mother, it makes my heart ache..."]

In our country, childbirth and childcare support is operated within the framework of employment insurance, leaving self-employed individuals and those in special employment circumstanes without support.

In the five key tasks for work-family balance announced by the government last year, there was no mention of self-employed individuals.

In contrast, more than ten European countries, including Germany and France, have already normalized parental leave for the self-employed.

In particular, Sweden and Germany provide parental leave benefits of up to 77% and 65% of annual income, respectively.

[Park Eun-jung/Researcher at the Childcare Policy Research Institute: "It is not about receiving parental leave benefits for closing the business; it is about receiving benefits for the income loss due to reduced working hours for childcare."]

Support for parental leave for the self-employed was proposed as a pledge by both parties in last year's general election, but discussions have yet to take place.

This is KBS News, Hong Seong-hee.