Safety and Health at Work

Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (산업안전보건연구원)
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Characteristics and Socio-Demographic Distribution of Precarious Employment Among Korean Wage Workers: A Proposition of Multidimensional Approach Using a Summative Score

  • Seong-Uk Baek (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine) ;
  • Min-Seok Kim (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine) ;
  • Myeong-Hun Lim (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine) ;
  • Taeyeon Kim (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine) ;
  • Jin-Ha Yoon (The Institute for Occupational Health, Yonsei University College of Medicine) ;
  • Jong-Uk Won (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine)
  • Received : 2023.05.08
  • Accepted : 2023.07.24
  • Published : 2023.12.30
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Abstract

Introduction: There is a growing global interest in the issue of precarious employment. We aimed to analyze the characteristics and socio-demographic distribution of precarious employment using a summative score approach. Methods: To operationalize precarious employment, we utilized data from the Korean Working Conditions Survey and focused on three distinct dimensions: employment insecurity, income inadequacy, and a lack of rights and protections. By constructing a summative scale ranging from -16 to 2, with lower scores indicating higher precariousness, we measured employment precariousness among Korean wage workers. To compare employment precariousness according to survey participant characteristics, we employed the Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test. Results: We analyzed a weighted number of 38,432 workers. The overall sample showed a median (Q1, Q3) summative scale score of -3 (-6, -1). The median summative score was lower for women compared to men (men: -2; women: -5; p < 0.001), as well as for young or older workers compared to middle-aged workers (young: -4; middle-aged: -2; older: -5; p < 0.001). Similarly, workers with lower educational levels (middle school or below: -8; high school: -5; college or above: -2; p < 0.001) and non-white collar workers (blue collar: -5; service/sales worker: -6; white collar: -2; p < 0.001) experienced higher levels of employment precariousness. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that certain vulnerable groups, such as women, young or older adults, workers with low educational attainment, and caregiving or low-skilled elementary workers, are disproportionately exposed to high employment precariousness. Active policy interventions are needed to improve the employment quality of vulnerable groups.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

We express our gratitude to the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute for conducting the Korean Working Conditions Survey.

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