All over Asia, governments are scrambling to boost the birth rate, but nothing is happening. Companies have therefore decided to enter the battle themselves.
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Governments in South Korea and elsewhere have unsuccessfully launched policies to combat demographic collapse. They offer more family allowances, more places in daycare and even more parental leave. But the number of births continues to decline inexorably. So in South Korea, a private construction group has just announced that it will now give 70,000 euros to its employees who welcome a new baby. The boss of the Booyoung firm made this announcement on Monday February 5.
Booyoung is a construction giant who made his fortune in rental properties. Its boss, Lee Joong-keun, who is now 84 years old, is a fairly well-known figure in the country. Firstly because he has often had to deal with the law, particularly for tax fraud cases, but also because he makes a lot of donations to social causes that are close to his heart. And among these causes, there is therefore the demographic collapse of his country.
A simple equation: if there are no more babies, there will be no more workers or customers
Booyoung’s boss explains that it’s his group’s survival that is at stake in the long term. If the number of births continues to collapse in Korea, one day it will not have enough customers and following current curves, the Korean population will even be halved by 2100. The group also explains that he will very quickly suffer from a collapse of the hand ofœWorks in the construction sector. This is why he decided to launch his baby bonus plan.
From now on, the group intends to pay 100,000 million won (70,000 euros) to employees who have a baby. To prove that he is serious, he handed out checks on Monday, for a total amount of five million euros, to the 70 employees who have had babies since 2021. He also plans to provide free apartments to his employees. who would have three or more children. However, you will have to choose between the bonus and free accommodation in an apartment. He is also asking for a gesture from the State, so that he can be given free land to build these famous housing units for large families.
Other South Korean companies are not as generous. This is the first time that a company has offered such a large bonus. Other groups are also mobilizing, but it is more to organize the working time of their employees. The electronics group LG offers, for example, up to two years of parental leave and now gives three days of paid leave to its employees who undergo infertility treatments.