A quarter of all workers who went on parental leave last year were fathers, a majority of whom were employees of conglomerates.

According to data from Statistics Korea on Wednesday, there were 173-thousand-631 mothers and fathers of children aged eight or under on parental leave last year, up one percent from a year earlier.

Fathers accounted for 41-thousand-910 of such parents, a record 24-point-one percent of the total this year and an eight-percent on-year increase.

While the number of fathers going on parental leave is on the rise, 71 percent of them were working for conglomerates with 300 or more employees, while only ten-point-five percent of the fathers were working for smaller companies with five to 49 employees.