Each country is currently implementing policy on balancing work and life
suitable for its situation, but its effects are turning out differently.
With awareness of crisis from 1960, Sweden launched diverse child care
services from the 1970s as well as policies such as pushing ahead parental
leave, supporting incomes, linking welfare and work, thus raising the birth
rate to 2.02 in 2009. In case of Japan, acknowledging the seriousness of low
birth rate from the industrialization in the late 1980s, it has introduced and is
currently implementing a comprehensive policy. In Korea, the government
realized the decrease in birth rate only in the 1980s and is rushing to
introduce and implement related policies, however, the birth rate still stays at
1.24(according to the survey of Statistics Korea, 2015). The rates of women’s
economic activity in Sweden and Japan are respectively higher than that of
Korea, which may be due to work-family balance policy.
Also by examining the role of nation, corporations and workers based on
the policies of Sweden and Japan, and by re-examining the policies done in
Korea so far, Korea needs to utilize such opportunity as a stepping stone in
preparing for more effective plans in the future.