Family policies and working women’s fertility intentions in South Korea

The effects of family policies on fertility intentions have been underexplored under the ultra-low fertility context in East Asia. Using the 2007–2008 Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families (N = 1422), we examine how family assisting policies (i.e. maternal leave, childcare leave, and family allowance) and career-assisting policies (i.e. workplace daycare facilities, daycare allowance, and flexible working schedule) influence working women’s fertility intentions in Korea. Results indicate that family policies influence fertility intentions in a nuanced way in which they interact with reproductive age to jointly affect fertility intentions. Specifically, working women who are younger than advanced reproductive age (i.e. less than 35 years old) are more likely to report fertility intentions than their counterparts who are 35 or above, when childcare leave, family allowance, and workplace daycare facilities are available. We assess the effectiveness of these family policies and provide potential new directions to address the concerns about ultra-low fertility in Korea.