Labor ministry expands paternity support with three new measures

The Ministry of Employment and Labor will begin enforcing a new package of support measures for working fathers on Sept. 18, introducing miscarriage leave, extending partner birth leave windows, and allowing prenatal childcare leave.

A central component is the creation of partner miscarriage and stillbirth leave, allowing employees to take up to five days off within 20 days of the incident. Workers at priority support enterprises will receive paid benefits covering the first three days, calculated at 100 percent of ordinary wages with a daily cap of 84,210 won.

The ministry also extended the window for using partner birth leave, shifting the start date from the day of delivery to 50 days before the expected due date. Eligible workers can now utilize their 20-day entitlement anytime between 50 days prior to the due date and 120 days after the actual birth.

The updated policy permits male employees to take childcare leave while their partners are still pregnant if there is a risk of miscarriage or premature birth. This leave does not count toward the limit on how many times it can be split, though the total duration remains deducted from the standard allowance.

These adjustments follow a period of significant growth in parental benefit usage, with the number of recipients for childcare and related allowances rising 16.7 percent to approximately 269,000 between January and August compared to the previous year. During the same period, the number of workers taking partner birth leave jumped 45.1 percent to about 22,000.

Cho Jeong-suk, the ministry's employment support policy officer, said the new measures would broaden male participation in caregiving throughout the entire process from pregnancy to delivery. She added that the government would continue developing solutions to reduce the burden of balancing work and parenting for all working parents, including those at small businesses and freelancers.