A construction company in Seoul has devised an innovative solution to address the country's frighteningly low birth rate.?
The Booyoung Group is proposing to compensate its employees 100 million Korean won ($75,000 or ? 62,26,106) for each kid they have.According to CNN, the corporation would pay seven billion Korean won ($5.25 million or ? 43,58,27,437) in cash to employees who have given birth to 70 infants since 2021.
The bonus would be available to both male and female employees, the company announced.
"I hope we will be recognized as a company that contributes to encouraging births and worries about the country's future," said Lee Joong-keun, Chairman of the Booyoung Group, about the effort.?
Joong-keun explained that the company's goal was to alleviate the financial strain of childrearing on its employees by direct financial support, and that staff with three children would have a special option to choose whatever benefit they wanted.?
They can pick between receiving "300 million Korean won ($225,000 or ? 1,86,78,318) in cash or rental housing if the government offers land for construction".
The company's endeavor comes as South Korea's birth rates are dangerously low. South Korea has the world's lowest fertility rate of 0.78 in 2022, and that figure is predicted to fall to 0.65 in 2025, according to Statistics Korea.?
South Korea's birth rate has been declining since 2015. According to a grim estimate made in December 2023, the country's birth rate could fall to as low as 0.59 by 2026, resulting in population levels not seen since the 1970s.?
While authorities expect the birth rate to gradually rebound to 1.08 by 2072, this figure is still much lower than the 2.1 births per woman threshold needed for population stability in the absence of immigration. South Korea's total population is anticipated to shrink from 51.75 million in 2024 to 36.22 million, a figure last seen in 1977.?
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