It's too expensive to have a child in S Korea. I'm a foreigner and my wife is Korean. We have two boys. The costs of their hagwons are out of control. We actually have good careers and are financially stable, but the costs just keep on increasing even for us. The govt should support the public schools to challenge these hagwons so the public has more choices instead of getting into an arms race to pay higher prices for private education. If these academies are so effective, then why are more students having more success? It's a problem, and most parents don't have any options because both parents have to work, which means they don't have time to spend with their children. It's a vicious cycle, and I don't blame young people for thinking it's not worth it. Hagwons are like private healthcare in the US. Good for profits, but not the public and its well-being. On top of that, the cost of living is increasing while wages do not keep up for the vast majority of the public.
If our government does not know why people are not having kids then that is a serious problem… of course there are other reasons why people are not having kids but a mayor concern is financial stability and a safe environment.
The Italian guest is on point about the extended childcare services vs. giving parents a chance to spend more time with their kids. Sure parents would appreciate that but there’s more to being a parent than providing the finances. 😢
All of these mess up experts need to stop playing politics about it. It's a simple none complex issue with simple solution. MONEY! Is the problem and solution. The current money solution is puny. Figure out the money.
Some of the resounding solutions mentioned, gender pay equality so that mothers will be able to spend more on their children, husbands will also benefit since they won't be incentivized to seek additional work. Both parents then will have more time and resources for their children.
Korean culture is not compatible with children. With inflation, the growing cost of going to elite schools(only), ultra competition, expectations of being a mother or father, pressure and stress of society. Why would anyone have kids if it doesn’t serve them anything other than more financial stress? Society places so much emphasis on money making, external appearances, judgement from others. It’s not conductive to having kids which requires a lot of collective support from family friends and the government. Just look at the entertainment industry in Korea to understand how many people are not getting married in order to just make a buck. Not to mention the unrealistic standards people have towards their future spouses/in-laws, people aren’t even getting married.
In the US, this whole push for return to office is putting many working parents back in the hardship of paying for expensive childcare and the higher cost of living combined with expensive childcare is making the idea of having kids much less attractive than before. Companies may think they are going to mitigate the financial impact of less people in the population on their bottom line by using AI to automate people out of their jobs but what companies don’t seem to realize is they still need humans to buy their goods and services. Robots are not the ones who will buy food, cars and homes, people will. And if no one is working due to AI taking over and no one is having kids anymore then what will happen?
