No Unemployment Benefits If You Want Childcare Support: The Dilemma Facing Working Moms

"The moment you choose to receive unemployment benefits, even in cases of unpaid wages, your access to childcare support is cut off. The 'Childcare Working Hour Reduction Benefit' system is pushing away the very parents who need this support the most."

Oh (41), a mother of a 7-year-old daughter who entered elementary school this year and a 5-year-old son, expressed her frustration, saying she is left in a hopeless situation after recently leaving her job.

Oh resigned on July 6 after struggling with the decision, as her company had failed to pay her wages for about three months due to financial difficulties.

Although she is in a desperate situation with no income to support her two children, Oh is delaying her application for unemployment benefits.

She is doing so in order to use the "Childcare Working Hour Reduction System," which she found useful at her previous job, as soon as she starts at a new workplace.

Critics point out that the government's work-life balance policy is forcing workers into an unreasonable choice, as two welfare systems—one for unemployment and one for childcare—clash with each other.

The "Childcare Working Hour Reduction System" allows employees with children aged 12 or younger to reduce their weekly working hours to between 15 and 35 hours to focus on child-rearing.

The government provides the "Childcare Working Hour Reduction Benefit" to compensate for a portion of the lost wages.

However, to receive this benefit, the insured period under employment insurance must total at least 180 days prior to the start date of the reduced working hours.

Oh also received up to 650,000 won in benefits per month through this system at her previous job.

However, a problem arises if Oh receives unemployment benefits during her period of unemployment.

This is because once unemployment benefits are received, the entire insured period previously accumulated under employment insurance is wiped out.

Consequently, when she joins a new company after receiving unemployment benefits, her contribution period is calculated from scratch, meaning she cannot apply for the Childcare Working Hour Reduction Benefit for about 6 to 7 months.

Oh is placed in a contradictory situation where she must give up unemployment benefits and endure the hardship of being unemployed if she wants to continue receiving this childcare support without interruption.

Experts point out that this is a structural defect caused by applying the same administrative standards to two systems with different protective purposes.

They explain that it is a side effect of mechanically applying the "180-day insured period requirement," which was introduced to prevent the indiscriminate repeated receipt of unemployment benefits, to the Childcare Working Hour Reduction Benefit intended for work-life balance.

Bae Ga-young, a spokesperson for Workplace Gapjil 119, said, "Applying the same eligibility requirements to job-seeking benefits, which are intended to protect livelihoods after job loss, and childcare working hour reduction benefits, which are intended to support child-rearing, does not align with the purpose of each system."

Bae pointed out, "In particular, if a worker who lost their job due to an employer's illegal act, such as unpaid wages, cannot receive childcare working hour reduction benefits later simply because they received job-seeking benefits for their livelihood, it imposes a double penalty on the victimized worker."

Jang Mi, a labor attorney at the Seoul Eastern Working Moms Support Center, noted, "It is problematic that this payment requirement is applied to the Childcare Working Hour Reduction Benefit, which is separate from preventing repeated receipt of benefits."

Jang suggested, "A legal amendment is needed to create an exception so that the 180-day re-qualification clause for unemployment benefits is not applied when calculating the insured period for the Childcare Working Hour Reduction Benefit."

In response, the Ministry of Employment and Labor explained that since the Childcare Working Hour Reduction Benefit is a system for employment insurance subscribers, a minimum eligibility requirement of 180 days of insured period is stipulated.

Regarding the situation where the criteria for unemployment benefits and reduction benefits overlap, forcing workers hoping for re-employment to give up one of the two, an official from the Ministry of Employment and Labor said, "We are aware of this as a usage pattern that may occur during the recent expansion of the Childcare Working Hour Reduction System," adding, "We plan to continue monitoring related cases in the future."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.