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That's not really what's happening - in Korea, there are many young people, male and female, who would be willing to have kids if life is easier. They don't be
by yongjik 2y ago
That's not really what's happening - in Korea, there are many young people, male and female, who would be willing to have kids if life is easier. They don't because they can't afford a house, or they don't want their kids to go through the brutal education system they suffered themselves.
Or they are simply overworked and don't have time to raise kids.
So, many "pro-birth" policies are aimed at helping women at work so that they don't have to sacrifice their career. But the government isn't doing much (our current president said people should be "allowed" to work 120 hours per week if they wanted to - and somehow still got elected), and what little policy Korea has is constantly attacked by conservative young men for being "sexist" because it's "feminist propaganda" that victimizes those poor young men.
And every year Korea slides further into population collapse.
- lumost 2y agoHow much of this is due to housing price increases? It naively seems like rising house prices trigger an arms race in education and productivity among young people to afford housing. If the labor quota is high enough… then nothing else will happen. GDP will rise, but individuals will steadily be sacrificing family, entertainment, and joy.
- faangguyindia 2y agoThat's completely false. People will say they want to. But they'll not make necessary sacrifices because it's outside their comfort zone There are poor countries than Korea where survival is way more difficult, yet they've kids. It's not about money or affordability, it never was. Poor people in any culture have more kids. Your comment is not based in reality and comes across as if "if I was millionaire I'd have kids".
- yongjik 2y agoIn poorer nations people have more children because, while life is hard, it doesn't get much harder if you have one more kid. You don't have to put your kid to 12 years of education; you don't have to worry about college fund. If you are a subsistence farmer life may actually get easier because a kid is a free labor. That was also reflected in past Korean society where people frequently said the cost of one more kid is just "a spoon and a pair of chopsticks." Very different from modern, industrialized Korea, where the lifetime cost of raising one kid equals multiple years of your salary. Unless you don't care about your kids and think they'll just sustain themselves by working in the rice paddy from age six to seventy.
- faangguyindia 2y agoCost of baby in Modern Korea is risk to female figure, health, risk of death. That perceived cost is above the cost of living of a baby. That cannot be fixed by simply offering them more money.
- yongjik 2y ago> Cost of baby in Modern Korea is risk to female figure, health, risk of death. Okay, now you're just making stuff up.
- faangguyindia 2y agoThat's the most cited fear in antinatal community
- nasmorn 2y agoAt least at 120 hours a week you no longer need a house and can just change at the gym instead.