Young Married Women's Labor Market Exit: Focused on the Effects of the Child Birth and Available Family-Friendly Policies

첫 자녀 출산 여부와 가족친화제도에 따른 유배우 기혼 여성의 취업 중단에 관한 연구

The purpose of this study is to understand why female labor force participation rates decline in early times after their marriage. Data were derived from the 4th(2001) to 9th(2006) Korea Labor & Income Panel Study. 194 Korean married women in twenties and thirties who had a job before marriage were analyzed. Survival analysis was used to explore the first labor force exit of married women longitudinally. The major findings are as follows. First, nearly half of them went away from labor market in the first 3 years after marriage. Second, child birth was the most significant factor in predicting women's labor force exit. Married women's employment discontinuity tend to be lowered after child birth, with working hour decreasing, and with the number of available family-friendly policies increasing. Married women's income encouraged them to hold on their career, though husband's income and household income were not significant. Third, married women tended to leave their job before giving birth. Women who remained in the labor market at child birth or until a year after birth were inclined to continue their job thereafter. Fourth, maternity leave and childcare leave diminished the probability of employment discontinuity. Many working wives could not use a maternity leave or childcare leave. This study shows married women usually underwent labor market exit in their newly married time. They cannot help facing conflict between the role of mother's and a worker's. Family-friendly policies could encourage working wives to rear child and continue work at the same time. The findings of this study could serve as fundamental material for further studies and would be a key to find effective solution for problematic issues on reconciling work and family.

이 연구의 목적은 기혼 여성의 결혼 후 첫 취업 중단 발생 경향을 자녀 출산 및 가족친화제도에 따른 영향에 주목하여 분석함으로써, 출산과 가족친화제도가 일 가족 양립에 미치는 영향을 파악하는 것이다. 이를 알아보기 위하여 한국노동패널에서 최근 5년 이내(2002~2006) 결혼한 20~30대 취업 여성 194명을 추출하였으며, 가족친화제도 문항이 포함되기 시작한 제4차(2001)부터 제 9차(2006)까지의 데이터를 활용하여 생존분석하였다. 분석 결과 기혼 취업 여성이 첫 경력 단절을 경험하기까지 걸리는 시간은 평균 29.60개월로, 결혼 후 2년 반 이내에 절반 가까이 직장 생활을 그만두었다. 취업 여성의 결혼 후 취업 중단 요인에는 자녀 출산이 가장 유의한 변수로 나타났으며, 근로소득이 증가할수록, 근로시간이 감소할수록, 직장 내 가족친화제도를 더 많이 이용할수록 취업상태를 지속하는 경향을 보였다. 기혼 취업 여성의 취업 중단은 특히 첫 자녀 출산을 2~3개월 앞둔 시기에 주로 나타났는데, 출산휴가 및 육아휴직과 같은 가족친화제도를 이용할 수 있는 경우 이러한 취업 중단이 발생할 가능성은 유의하게 낮아지는 것으로 나타났다.