Many Korean women quit their jobs after giving birth in the face of a range of difficulties in raising children while working at the same time. A shortage of decent childcare facilities, among other factors, makes working moms refrain from having more babies or end up staying home to raise their children.

To boost the nation’s falling birthrates and encourage more women to participate in economic activities, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance is considering bringing Filipino women into the country to employ them as babysitters.

Many working mothers seem to welcome the government’s latest move, saying it will help them find suitable babysitters at lower costs.

Lukewarm attitude from other ministries

However, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and the Ministry of Justice have shown a lukewarm response, arguing there are already plenty of foreign and Korean women willing to work as babysitters.

The labor ministry said if the country brings in Filipinos, it will take away jobs from those employed in childcare. To allow Filipinos to work as babysitters, the government will issue them new types of visas, according to officials from the ministry.

The finance ministry said Tuesday that it has begun looking into the issue. “We have just started studying the introduction of babysitters from the Philippines as part of efforts to raise Korea’s record-low birthrate and prompt more married women to take part in economic activities,” said Kim Jae-hwan, director of the ministry’s competitiveness strategy division. “Hong Kong and Singapore have invited hundreds of thousands of women from the Philippines and allow them to care for babies of their citizens. This has helped women there keep their jobs while raising young children.”

About 300,000 Filipino women currently reside in Hong Kong working as babysitters. They are known to receive around $500 a month and are given a day off each week.

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