In Korea, low fertility is linked to the increase of female labour force participation. This is not the only reason for low fertility, however, as incompatibility between labour force participation and childbearing, which negatively affect a women''s employment and thereby reducing the demand for children, have also contributed to the problem along with costs of children. Hence the Korean government have introduced extensive public policies to families since the 2000s. These policies might provide the solution to low fertility problems by encouraging working women to have more children.
This paper investigates the effects of women''s labour force participation and the work-family reconciliation supports on life-cycle fertility in Korea.
The categories of work-family reconciliation support types are: 1) leave program (maternal leave, parental leave), 2) childcare support (financial support for childcare, use of childcare facility), 3) flexible working time (part-time work).
The analysis is based on the data from Korean labour and Income Panel Study(KLIPS), that contains available information on life-cycle fertility and employment history. Employing a dynamic model of fertility, all 15-49-year-old women''s life-cycle fertility was estimated by duration model (Weibull model and Cox proportional hazard model).
The major results of this paper were as follows:
First, women''s labour force participation had a negative effect on first birth, second birth and all births (transition to births starting at different parities). Women''s employment tended to lengthen interval between births. The opportunity costs of childbearing for working women is higher because the social environment does not facilitate working women when it comes to fulfilling both roles of worker and mother in Korea. Even after childbirth, men''s participation in childrearing is low, resulting in gender inequality. These factors make it difficult for women to give birth to and raise children while being employed. Therefore, to increase women’s employment and birth rates, the public and private sectors need to be changed.
Second, the availability of maternal leave had a positive effect on first birth and all births for working women. Providing maternal leave to working women decreased the opportunity cost of childbearing so that it reduced the interbirth interval of women. However, the availability of parental leave had no significant effect on the births of working women.
Third, the financial support for childcare had a positive effect on first birth and all births. In other words, the economic support for childcare led to the reduction the interbirth interval of women by raising the probability of births. The financial assistance for childcare increases the budget constraint and reduces direct costs of children, therefore couples would increase demand for the children. The financial support of childcare seems to be an effective policy to encourage couples to have more children.
Fourth, the use of childcare facility for the first child that substitutes the time of women needed to take care of children, a time-intensive consumption goods, did not have any effect on second birth. In case of Korea, working women have a difficulty to access childcare facilities (distance, availability of childcare facility, day-care centers lacking diversity etc), and to afford facilities expense. In order to solve the problem of insufficient number of childcare facilities compared to the demands, the number of childcare facilities should be expanded and the day-care centers for children should become more diverse.
Fifth, the part-time employment of women had a positive effect on second birth. The flexible working time schedule tended to decrease time to second birth. Women who had already given birth to their first child were able to continue participating in the labour market while taking care of their time-intensive goods with flexible working hours so that it is possible to reconcile work and family life.
In order to solve the problem of low fertility, a combined effort from both private (family) and public sector (corporate, local community and government) is required. It is essential to eliminate the role-separating model inside the family and the factors interrupting working women''s childbirth, and to draw upon the cooperation of local community and corporations so that birth-encouraging government policies can be put into effect.
Family, corporation, local community and government all need to work together so that giving birth to children, the future human resource and national engine of growth, is not deterred by barriers to fertility.

Key words: women labour force participation, work-family reconciliation support, low fertility, the dynamic model of fertility, leave program (maternal leave, parental leave), childcare support (financial support for childcare, use of childcare facility), flexible working time (part-time work).