A South Korean company that is dedicated to the construction sector (Booyung Group) has taken, through its president Lee Joong-keun, a measure that is as original as it is controversial. This is none other than paying financial aid of 70,000 dollars (65,300 euros) per child to fathers and mothers who have a baby in 2025 or was born after 2021 since the payment is retroactive.
How the media collects Fortuneit is about combating the low birth rate and helping its workforce with child-rearing expenses. The number of births in this country is the lowest in the world and according to several studies, the active population is expected to be halved in 50 years. “If we continue to have this situation of low birth rates, we face a crisis of national existence,” explained the 84-year-old billionaire.
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It was the Japanese newspaper Korea JoomgAng Daily who advanced this news, since some workers leaked the content of one of the meetings. “The problem comes from the economic burdens and the complications in reconciling work and family life“For this reason, he pointed out that “we have had to take a drastic measure.”
The company is headquartered in Seoul and has more than 2,500 employees. The aid of 64,300 euros per child has already been collected for four years, both for children who are born now and for those who have already become parents, who collect it “retroactively.” Since the measure was implemented, more than 70 families have already entered it into their accounts.
The same financial aid for fathers and mothers
The incentive is the same regardless of whether it is received by a man or a woman, and is part of a broader package of measures that includes support for the payment of university tuition, health insurance and other child benefits. Lee has raised with the Government the possibility of creating special tax deductions for companies that carry out measures to boost birth rates (like his own).
In addition, there is also rental assistance in the case of large families (3 or more children). Thanks to this, South Korea, as explained by the millionaire president of the company, could improve the birth rate, since fertility is 0.78 children per woman, placing it behind the rest of the world.
The data is worrying because it suggests that it could fall even further, to 0.65 in 2025. In this way, maintaining a stable population index is possible with an average of 2.1 children per woman.
Despite public aid, the subsidies paid by the State to newlyweds or the baby check of 2,000 euros, as well as discounts on healthcare for the mother after giving birth, the number of families with children continues to decline.
Nurseries in the workplace and 2 years of parental leave
Some companies have already implemented measures to promote birth rates, although they are less expensive than that of this construction company. Companies like Samsung, LG or Hyundai are opening daycare centers in the workplace and up to two years of parental leave. To those couples who want to have children but cannot, they offer help with fertility treatments.
But Booyung Group has broken the mold and is the first to pay cash to new parents. And with a not insignificant amount, following in the wake of other donations. Last year, this tycoon paid 93 million euros to his hometown and distributed small ‘salaries’ to his classmates who were experiencing difficulties.
Although not everything is positive and he had problems with the law for tax evasion and embezzlement of funds in 2004 and in 2018 he was arrested. Later, in 2021, he was released on parole and cannot hold the position of director in his company until 2027.
Despite this, in different media he has already indicated that he feels like a “patriot” who seeks to “contribute to the survival of the country by helping our employees start families without having to worry about the cost that this entails.”