South Korea's Working Mothers Reach Record Employment Rate

• The employment rate for mothers in South Korea has reached a record 67.3%
• Despite this, many women still experience long career breaks after having children
• Almost half a million women are included in this long-term career break category

South Korea's employment percentage of women with children reached an all-time high although many women are still unemployed for long durations.

Data shared by the government on Thursday detailed that more married women with children were employed than ever before, but more than 40 percent of women left their jobs for more than 10 years.

In the first half of 2025, 64.3 percent of married women aged 15 to 54 with children under 18 were employed which is a 1.9 percentage increase from one year ago plans, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

This is the highest in employment data since comparable data began in 2016. The employment rate has increased 8.8 percentage points over the past five years of official government data, while the rate of more married women has increased too due to lower birth rates in South Korea.

The employment-population ratio for all married women in South Korea hit a record of 67.3 percent, with an increase of 1.3 percentage point’s year-over-year.

Managerial occupations, professional occupations, and similar professions were the largest share of employed mothers at 35.1 percent. Wage and salaried workers account for 83 percent of employed mothers, with 80.6 percent of wages paid to workers in regular, full-time work.

Employed mothers with teenage children at home were at a greater employment rate of 70.4 percent as opposed to employed mothers with children at a younger age at only 57.7 percent.