SEOUL – A substantial number of single parents in South Korea have low financial instability and far less time to spend with their children than two-parent households, a study by a state-funded research institute showed Tuesday.

As of 2021, 31.4 percent of all households with one parent and at least one unmarried child were in the bottom 10 percent in terms of household income, according to research by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. Another 20 percent were in the second-lowest bracket, the 11th-20th percentile, meaning 51.4 percent of single-parent households belong to the bottom 20 percent in terms of income levels.

Of single parents with jobs, just under half — 42.1 percent — belonged to the bottom 20 percent of income earners. This figure was almost evenly split between the lowest 10 percent and the next lowest 11-20 percent bracket.

According to Statistics Korea, there were 1.49 million single-parent households with at least one unmarried child here in 2022, compared to 6.32 million dual-parent households with at least one unmarried child.

According to 2019 data by Statistics Korea also mentioned in the study, 8.8 percent of single parents with jobs made less than 1 million won ($695) a month, 28.4 percent made between 1 million and under 2 million, and 31.7 percent made between 3 million and under 4 million won. In comparison, only 0.2 percent of households where both parents had jobs made less than 1 million a month, 0.9 percent made between 1 million and under 2 million, and 6.3 percent made between 2 million and under 3 million.

In 2024, the average income for single-parent households was 2.94 million won a month, while the figure for all households was 4.88 million won in the same year, according to data from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family cited in the report.

The KIHASA report showed that households with both parents were substantially better off finance-wise. Only 7.5 percent of them were in the bottom 10 percent in terms of income, and 8.6 percent in the next lowest group.

Even among two-parent households in which only one parent worked, 15.4 percent belonged to the lowest group, while 12.6 percent were in the next lowest, significantly lower than the figures among single parents.

Among households in which both parents worked, 4.2 percent and 6.9 percent were each in the bottom 10 percent and the 11-20 percent group.

Researchers found that single parents spend more time taking care of their homes (2 hours and 15 minutes a day) than two person-households, (1 hour and 14 minutes) as of 2019. But the amount of time devoted to childcare was substantially less for single parents, spending a daily average of 29 minutes while the two-parents spend 52 minutes.

Two-parent households were able to dedicate more time to children aged 10 or less, which increased from a daily average of 68.9 minutes in 2004 to 83.1 minutes in 2019. But the time spent caring for young child actually decreased among single parents in the same period, from 126.2 minutes to 60 minutes a day.

The study pointed out that the current government policies providing support for single parents are difficult to access due to complicated application process, and that some of the social benefits such as spousal maternity leave is not applied for parents with no spouses.

Another key problem the researchers pinpointed was the “all or nothing” approach applied for most government subsidies, which could cause the recipients to want to stay in the lower income group in order to not lose the benefits. “There needs to be improvements (on the policy) to motivate single parent recipients to be independent, by gradual adjustment of the benefits,” researchers noted.

Asia News Network/The Korea Herald