기업의 육아휴직 도입이 여성 근로자 고용에 미치는 영향

In Korea, career interruption for women and low fertility rates due to childbirth and childcare are not today’s problems. Accordingly, the government has introduced and expanded various maternity protection plans, including the parental leave. Numerous domestic and international studies have been conducted on the parental leave and women’s employment only using women’s samples. This study analyzed the effect of the introduction of parental leave on the employment of female workers by utilizing long-term company-level panel data over 16 years. According to the result of the analysis, the proportion of female workers among all workers and among young workers increased significantly after companies adopted parental leave. Companies that perceive the adoption of the maternity protection plans as an increase in costs may be reluctant to hire women. According to previous studies, as the government lowers the cost burden of companies that have adopted parental leave, companies actually adopt the parental leave program and the parental leave is used by employees. Rather than the introduction of the parental leave itself, efforts should be made to solve social and economic problems such as career interruption, low fertility problems, and a decrease in the labor force under an aging population through activation of the parental leave.