Yoon vows tax incentives for SMEs supporting work-life balance

Sep 26, 2024, 03:36 am

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President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during the 4th Emergency Population Strategy Meeting held at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul, Wednesday, under the them of “Sharing the Achievements of Companies Excelling in Work-Family Balance.”/ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Hong Sun-mi

President Yoon Suk-yeol said Wednesday the government will review tax and other incentives for small and medium-sized companies that take steps to support employees’ work-life balance as part of efforts to encourage young people to have more children.

During the 4th Emergency Population Strategy Meeting aimed at addressing the country’s ultra-low birth rate, Yoon said the government will come up with various incentives, including policy fund support and giving preference in public project bidding processes.

It is the third time that Yoon has presided over a meeting on population strategy. It is the first time in nine years that a meeting on population emergency has been held more than twice a year under the presidency of former President Park Geun-hye since 2015.

“We declared a demographic national emergency on June 19 and announced 151 tasks in the three key areas of work-life balance, childcare, and housing stability at the Low Fertility and Aging Society Committee, and the government has been making great efforts to support it,” Yoon said.

Yoon said overcoming the current population crisis in South Korea will be possible only when childbirth and parenting are viewed as positive experiences, He called for changes to workplace environments and cultures to enable young people to balance hard work and joyful parenting.

Introducing cases of other countries where wages and promotions are determined through individual negotiations rather than seniority, Yoon said, “We also need to increase labor flexibility by expanding workers’ individual right to make their decision. That can be the right direction for the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the soil for establishing work-life balance at the same time.”

More than 150 people attended the meeting, including business owners and workers of SMEs, conglomerates, and financial companies, as well as members of the Low Fertility and Aging Society Committee.

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