Beijing extends leave for new mothers and fathers
Print Edition
AUTHORITIES in China’s capital will extend leave from work for new mothers and fathers, in what appeared to be the latest incentive to encourage families to have more children.
The nation faces a shrinking labour force and aging population.
Last year, the ruling Chinese Communist Party announced it would relax its long-standing “one-child policy,” allowing all couples to have two children.
The government, keen to address the looming ageing crisis, is concerned that many people will choose not to exercise that right, worried about the cost of raising two children in an increasingly expensive country.
Fathers in Beijing will now be entitled to 15 days of paternity leave under the new regulation, the China News Service said yesterday.
New fathers in China now get three to 10 days of paternity leave depending on where they live.
Mothers in Beijing can extend their leave to a maximum of seven months if their employers agree, the news agency said, which is 30 days longer than now.
Under the new rules for Beijing, couples who already have a child each from a previous marriage can have another baby, the news agency said.
Several provinces and major municipalities have similarly amended their maternity and paternity leave policies.
China’s population is set to peak at about 1.45 billion by 2050 when one in every three people is expected to be more than 60 years old, with a shrinking proportion of working adults to support them.
The one-child policy was introduced in the late 1970s to prevent population growth spiralling out of control.
But it is now regarded as outdated and responsible for shrinking the labor pool and an aging society, with a smaller number of productive young people, a phenomenon usually seen in more industrialized countries.
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