The Belief That High-Income Women Avoid Childbirth Is Wrong: Higher Income Leads to More Births

KEIS: "The Effect of Labor Market Structure on Low Fertility"

Higher Birth Rates Where Workplace Gender Wage Gap is Smaller

"Unstable Employment and the Motherhood Penalty Are Barriers to Childbirth"

A new study has overturned the conventional belief that “the higher a woman’s income, the less likely she is to have children.” The research found that women with higher incomes and smaller gender wage gaps in their workplaces are more likely to give birth, while unstable employment such as part-time work and a sharp decline in income after childbirth were identified as major factors deterring childbirth. The findings point out that the root cause of Korea’s ultra-low birth rate lies not in the expansion of women’s economic participation, but in the structure of the labor market and the gender wage gap.

According to the report “The Effect of Labor Market Structure on Low Fertility” published on July 6 by the Korea Employment Information Service (KEIS), the core factors hindering marriage and childbirth among young people are unstable employment and income insecurity. Until now, there has been a widespread perception in Korean society that higher female income leads to avoidance of childbirth. However, by tracking employment and income of women of childbearing age using employment insurance administrative data, the researchers found that the “income effect”—having stable jobs and income—plays a more significant role in the decision to have children.

The research team first tracked and analyzed women’s income and work environment one year prior to childbirth (the time of conception). They found that the higher the proportion of a woman’s salary compared to the average monthly wage of her male coworkers (relative wage), and thus the smaller the wage gap, the more likely she was to choose childbirth. The influence score showing the correlation between childbirth and relative wage was 0.233. The actual monthly wage level of each woman also proved to be a major variable influencing birth rates. The influence score between childbirth and women’s income level was 0.008, demonstrating a clear positive effect. In other words, it is not that women with higher incomes are less likely to have children; rather, economic stability in the household positively impacts childbirth. On the other hand, unstable employment such as part-time work had a clear negative impact (-0.064) on the decision to have children.

The report also pointed out that the sharp drop in women’s income immediately after childbirth is a decisive factor deepening the ultra-low birth rate. Women’s wages, on average, fell by about 25% in the year of childbirth compared to the previous year, showing a negative effect. In economics, this phenomenon is called the “motherhood penalty.” This gap did not recover quickly even after childbirth. Currently, one in six female workers in Korea (16–17%) experiences a break in their employment history, and over 90% of these cases are due to marriage, pregnancy and childbirth, or childcare. As a result, within the current labor market structure, only women with high-quality jobs who can bear the risk of the motherhood penalty and career interruption are able to choose childbirth, leading to a “rich-get-richer, poor-get-poorer” phenomenon in childbirth choices.

Lee Sigyun, senior research fellow at the Korea Employment Information Service and lead author of the study, diagnosed, “Korea’s ultra-low birth rate is a form of resistance by the younger generation against labor market instability, dual structures, and disadvantages associated with motherhood.” He stated, “Simple cash payouts like child allowances or fragmented policies centered on social welfare have clear limitations in solving this issue,” adding, “The prerequisites include eliminating the gender wage gap through the principle of equal pay for equal work, and improving the dual structure of the labor market to reduce the gap in employment stability between large and small or medium-sized companies.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.