“We must respond to the declining birthrate by increasing infrastructure for work-life balance”.

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) Reporter Seong Seo-ho = A suggestion was made that more infrastructure should be provided to balance work and life in response to the low birthrate.

Kang Dong-soo, the head of the Global Knowledge Collaboration Complex at the Korea Development Institute (KDI), made this announcement at the international conference hosted by the Low Birthrate and Aged Society Committee & National Economic Advisory Council at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul on the 20th.

Kang pointed out that the characteristics of our country’s population change are the historically lowest birthrate and the fastest aging speed in the world, and diagnosed that “the outlook has become more pessimistic over time”.

He analyzed, “Population changes cause a decrease in the economic growth rate, a decrease in the labor population and the economically active population from a macroeconomic perspective,” and “it also increases inflation and affects the savings rate.”

He added, “Population changes also affect social and financial aspects, such as mismatch of demand and supply in the labor market, regional population imbalance, increase in the national debt ratio, and issues with the soundness of the national pension and health insurance.”

Kang emphasized, “To respond to the low birthrate, we need to increase the infrastructure for work-life balance,” and “Social policy should focus on improving the overall quality of life and ultimately increasing the population.”

In addition, he said, “We need to find ways to increase labor productivity to mitigate economic shocks and maintain the quality of individual life,” and “In particular, population changes have an immediate impact on labor, education, and finance, so reform is urgent.”

Yoshiki Takeuchi, Deputy Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), who gave the keynote speech at the conference, advised, “Comprehensive population changes are bringing widespread challenges to the economy and society, but by decisively implementing policies, we can protect the happiness of society.”

This event was attended by about 120 domestic and foreign scholars and experts, including Ed Westerhout, a professor at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, and Sagiri Kitao, a professor at the University of Tokyo in Japan, who shared opinions on responding to a low birthrate and aging society and growth strategies.

soho@yna.co.kr