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justagirl
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Location: Cheonan/Portland
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 Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 6:06 pm Post subject: Korean Government Encouraging More Children |
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I heard that the government wants Korean couples to have 3 or more children. If you have 3 kids, you get tax breaks, the child gets to go to kindergarten at the gov.'s expense and a few other incentives as well.
Why? Because they are worried about the declining birth rate in Korea.  They really think it's a serious problem and that they should pop out more babies.
Does anyone else think this is insane? Anyone else think that it'd be nice to have a few less people in Korea, or is it truly only the foreigners that realize this? |
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ryleeys
Joined: 22 Dec 2003
Location: Columbia, MD
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 6:09 pm Post subject: |
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It's true... my director has 3 daughters (you gotta feel bad for the dad living with 4 women  ), and she gets tax breaks and free education for the third I believe. Plus the youngest gets spoiled rotten.
Maybe it's a government ploy to restore "traditional" values and get them uppity women out of the workplace and back home, barefoot and pregnant, where they belong? |
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Crois
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: You could be next so watch out.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 6:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Maybe the ESL/EFL Mafia said that numbers are falling in the Hagwons so they said people must have more babies. Hey i aint complaining. More jobs for me. But then again more little horrors running around. |
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peppergirl
Joined: 07 Dec 2003
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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| If Korean couples continue to have only 1.17 (or something like that) kids, there won't be enough working people to support the older population. Same is happening in Europe, Japan, but in Korea the decline in births has been the fastest. |
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Manner of Speaking
Joined: 09 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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The birthrate is actually dropping very sharply here. In 2000 there were 630,000 newborns; in 2002 there were 495,000. Yes I think Korea's population is too big, but if the birthrate declines very rapidly it will create a significant imbalance between the working and non-working population, as peppergirl said.
I think the best way the government could boost the birth rate would be to abolish the College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT), the university entrance exam. Base university entrance on high school grades, same as in Canada. The cost of sending kids to cram schools to prepare for this test is now so high that it's discouraging a lot of young couples from having children. Which is ridiculous. |
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tsgarp
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 8:45 pm Post subject: Re: Korean Government Encouraging More Children |
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| justagirl wrote: |
I heard that the government wants Korean couples to have 3 or more children. If you have 3 kids, you get tax breaks, the child gets to go to kindergarten at the gov.'s expense and a few other incentives as well.
Why? Because they are worried about the declining birth rate in Korea. They really think it's a serious problem and that they should pop out more babies.
Does anyone else think this is insane? Anyone else think that it'd be nice to have a few less people in Korea, or is it truly only the foreigners that realize this? |
It must be hard to get through life with zero critical thinking skills. Haven't you ever heard of graying societies? A population reduction is desirable but a population crash leads to a disaster. Get it? |
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maxxx_power
Joined: 17 Mar 2003
Location: BWAHAHAHAHA! I'M FREE!!!!!!!
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 8:55 pm Post subject: |
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2.1 children per family is a sustainable rate, meaning that there is 0 population growth.
Japan and Italy are two major countries facing a major population crash within the next fifty years.
Some food for thought I guess. |
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HardyandTiny
Joined: 03 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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| peppergirl wrote: |
| If Korean couples continue to have only 1.17 (or something like that) kids, there won't be enough working people to support the older population. Same is happening in Europe, Japan, but in Korea the decline in births has been the fastest. |
The solution then would be to put more emphasis on collecting a reasonable amount of personal income taxes and bringing in foreign workers. This is not a new problem.
Have you asked any Korean people about this? I know a computer programmer who works for Samsung and only pays 3% income tax on 48 million won a year. Makes no sense. Many people pay less than 3%.
Support the older generation? hmmm
It looks to me like older people do most of the work in Korea and there are plenty of younger people to fill the service slots and definitely a lot of hungry Filipinos just waiting for that flight to Seoul.
Having more children is ridiculous. There are plenty of foreigners in this region willing to work in Korea. Korea has to change it's attititde about providing foreigners a decent wage and living in this country. This is a rich country and it's time to share the wealth.
More children....typical Korean stupidity. |
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shevek
Joined: 29 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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| HardyandTiny wrote: |
there are plenty of younger people to fill the service slots and definitely a lot of hungry Filipinos just waiting for that flight to Seoul.
Having more children is ridiculous. There are plenty of foreigners in this region willing to work in Korea. Korea has to change it's attititde about providing foreigners a decent wage and living in this country. This is a rich country and it's time to share the wealth. |
As some other posters mentioned, this is a similar problem to the one most developed nations are facing. And it's not just a matter of bringing in Filipinos or Nigerians or any other immigrant group. If you look at the problems these developed countries identify, they almost always include the lack of integration that the immigrant groups have with traditional society.
I spent a semester in the Netherlands, a country that's extremely tolerant by a lot of standards. The assimilation of immigrants brought in to fill labor shortages or for who've come for other reasons is a huge issue that a lot of Dutch feel really strongly and negatively about. I live in San Diego where many people have the same issues with Mexican immigrants. People freak out at the thought of their country's culture being threatened by scary outside influences.
I know next to nothing about Filipino culture and what Koreans think of them living in Korea. But considering how proud many Koreans are of their cultural and genetic heritage, it seems likely that they as a group like lots of other ethnic groups will continue to strongly prefer Korean birth rates accelerated to keep jobs filled over allowing more immigrants. |
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Gord
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 9:57 pm Post subject: |
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| HardyandTiny wrote: |
The solution then would be to put more emphasis on collecting a reasonable amount of personal income taxes and bringing in foreign workers. This is not a new problem.
Have you asked any Korean people about this? I know a computer programmer who works for Samsung and only pays 3% income tax on 48 million won a year. Makes no sense. Many people pay less than 3%. |
Korean's also pay amongst the highest consumption taxes in the world, ranging from an 11.1% sales tax on everything to recurring car taxes to punishingly high taxes on fuel and second residential properties, just for example. It's actually a model floated by many as making the tax system more fair as it taxes people who spend rather than those who earn.
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Support the older generation? hmmm
It looks to me like older people do most of the work in Korea and there are plenty of younger people to fill the service slots and definitely a lot of hungry Filipinos just waiting for that flight to Seoul.
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