Sharp rise in women in early-30s joining the workforce

[Image source: Pixabay]

There has been a surge in the number of working women in their early 30s in South Korea over the past five years, specifically by 8.8 percentage points, primarily because many of them are childless.

According to an anlysis on women’s workforce participation in their thirties by the Korea Development Institute (KDI) released on Monday, the economic activity participation rate for women aged 30 to 34, born between 1988 and 1992, was 75 percent in 2022. In comparison, the corresponding figure for working women born between 1983 and 1987 was 66.2 percent in 2017.

It is believed that there are two main reasons behind this surge: women in their early 30s are either giving up or postponing marriage and childbirth, and an increasing number of women are choosing to strike a balance between work and childcare, with a greater emphasis on the former.

When examining this 8.8 percentage-point increase among women in their 30s in the workforce over the past five years, approximately 60 percent is attributable to the decrease in the proportion of women having children, with the remaining 40 percent associated with the economic participation of women who have children, according to the KDI.

“The decrease in women in their 30s with children is alleviating labor supply constraints for now, but it may ultimately exacerbate economic and social problems by reducing the productive population and labor supply,” according to Kim Ji-yeon of the KDI’s Economic Outlook Office.