A survey by a job offer information firm showed that half of male students planning to start working next spring hope to take a child care leave if and when they have a child.
Aidem Inc. conducted the online survey between June 1 and 3 on university and graduate school students who want to join a company next spring, gleaning responses from 303 male and 398 female students.
Of the male pollees, 49.5 percent said they want to take a child care leave if they become a father, according to the survey; 49.8 percent said they want to work shorter hours; and 56.1 percent want to be exempt from working overtime for a certain period after their child is born.
In fiscal 2014, only 2.3 percent of male workers who became a father took child care leave, according to the labor ministry statistics.
Aidem officials said if male students who are willing to take child care leave become fathers in the future, they are most likely to be willing to take care of children, contributing to reducing the child care workload of women and improving the working conditions of all workers.
Meanwhile, 92 percent of women who responded said they want to take child care leave after having a child. The ministry data shows 86.6 percent of female workers who became a mother took child care leave in fiscal 2014.