China's biggest online travel agency to pay employees 1 billion yuan to have kids

Trip.com

30/06/2023 05:43

By Casey Hall
       SHANGHAI, June 30 (Reuters) - Trip.com Group  9961.HK 
said on Friday it would pay 50,000 yuan  ($6,897.69) to
employees for each child they have starting July 1 - the first
such initiative by a large private company in China as the
country struggles with an ageing population. 
    The company, one of the world's largest online travel
agencies, with 400 million users, said it would pay a parental
cash subsidy of 10,000 yuan annually for five years for every
child born to its employees worldwide. The programme will cost
about 1 billion yuan, the company said.
    "I have always suggested that the government give money to
families with children, especially multiple children, to ...
help more young people fulfil their desire to have multiple
children," Trip.com executive chairman James Liang said in a
statement. "Companies can also play a role within their own
capabilities to build a favourable fertility atmosphere."
    In the wake of a one-child policy that lasted from 1980 to
2015, demographers have warned that China will get old before it
gets rich, as its workforce shrinks and indebted local
governments spend more on their elderly population.
    China's birth rate last year fell to 6.77 births per 1,000
people, from 7.52 births in 2021, the lowest on record.
    Authorities in 2021 said couples could have as many as three
children, but even during the stay-at-home COVID years couples
have been reluctant to have babies.
    Young people cite high childcare and education costs, low
income, a weak social safety net and gender inequality, as
discouraging factors.
    Liang, who is also a demographer, published a book titled
"Population Strategies: How Population Affects Economy and
Innovation" this year and has suggested that 2% of China's GDP
should be put toward encouraging fertility.    

($1 = 7.2488 Chinese yuan renminbi)

 (Reporting by Casey Hall. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
 ((Casey.Hall@thomsonreuters.com;))