• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.57-78
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• 2004

The economic crisis in $1997{\sim}1998$ caused massive unemployment and unprecedentedly increased the number of the poor in Korea. As many unemployed families fell into poverty, the poverty rate skyrocketed to higher than 10 percent. Not later than 2000, unemployment late got back to normal and real average income among urban households approached to the income level prior to the economic crisis. Although the economic crisis has been passed through, poverty was not decreased to the low level prior to the crisis by 2000. Why does it remain high? This study attempts to provide an answer to this question by analysing the poverty trend over the 1990s. Data come from the National Survey of Household Income and Expenditures 1991, 1996, and 20001. Results show that poverty was rapidly reduced in the first half period of the 1990s. This reduction in poverty is largely explained by steady and rapid economic growth. Modest improvement in income inequality also contributed. In contrast, the poverty rate considerably increased in the latter half of the 1990s. Average income was not fully recovered to its prior level, which reflected the economic crisis and the subsequent economic stagnation. Worsened income inequality led to higher poverty rate too. In addition, demographic changes increased the share of economically vulnerable types of families, such as families headed by single parents and the elderly. The most significant factor in explaining the higher poverty rate was extended income differential among non-elderly adults, while the next was the increased number of the elderly families. Yet, findings a little differ depending on which concepts of poverty to adopt. In the analyses based on the concept of absolute poverty, economic growth the most significantly affected the poverty trends in the 1999s. Changes in income inequality played the most important role in explaining the trend in relative poverty. Adopting the concepts of quasi-absolute poverty, which is preferred in this study, results show that rapid economic growth significantly reduced poverty in the first half of the 1990s and both worsened income inequality and stagnated economic growth increased poverty in the latter 1990s.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.41-73
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• 2006

Using 1998~2003 data of the Korea Labor and Income Panel Survey, we analyze the scale, characteristics, and dynamic transition of working poors. The result shows that more than half of the poor families are working poors and that a considerable portion of economically active households is in poverty. However, compare to other kinds of poor families, working poors can easily escape from poverty once after they entered into poverty. When household head is elderly and less educated, the risk of working poor is relatively high. Also, self-employed households have high risk of working poor compare to households having wage worker(s). To ease the problem of working poor, creation of decent jobs and human resource development for vulnerable groups are important. Especially, the creation of decent jobs will do critical roles not only in solving employment issues but also in moderating income inequality among families. Policy development for self-employed in the brink of poverty and establishment of a solid social security system for working poors are also recommended.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.209-217
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• 2011

Purpose: In this study, eye-health inequity was investigated by analyzing the relationship between household incomes and eye-health of senior citizens. Further, this study suggested the preliminary data for establishment of public eye-health policy in order to improve low income senior citizens' life quality. Methods: The data from the 2009 Survey of Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination were analyzed in this study. The objectives of the KNHNE survey were over 65 year old group (1,668 people). Main factors of eye-health (visual acuity, cataract, pterygium, intraocular pressure, retinophathy, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinophathy, myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and anisometropia prevalence) were analyzed with t-test and chi square test. Results: Low income group revealed that refractive error rate and intraocular pressure were low, however, naked eye visual acuity and corrected visual acuity were high at 0.1 to less than 0.5. On the other hands, in the high income group, there was high prevalence of hyperopia. Cataract mainly occurred at low income group besides group which maximum corrected visual acuity was below 0.8 also highly showed cataract. Moreover, the prevalence of cataract showed that it related with smoking, drinking, occupation, and education level. Conclusions: Results revealed that there was inequity of eye-health which related with socioeconomic status of the elderly. Especially, the prevalence of cataract was correlated with life quality. Consequently, establishment of public eye-health policy seems to be required for eye-health inequity of low income senior citizens.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-38
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• 2005

Our paper aims to estimate a household consumption function in the presence of liquidity constraints as well as household characteristics. Empirical findings from a Korean cross-sectional data (National Survey of Household Income and Expenditure) reveal that several family characteristics, such as household size, number of working members, children in school, and educational level and age of the household head, turn out to be critical determinants of household consumption. Especially, the influence of household size on consumption decision is shown to be highly significant, not only indirectly through its impact on household income, but also directly by affecting the household's preference for consumption itself. While, the other family characteristics primarily influences household income. Our paper distinguishes itself from existing literature in that it greatly improves the explanatory power of the estimated household consumption function by measuring the degree of the liquidity constraint rather than simply identifying its presence. Based on the assumption that the present value of human capital is a function of household characteristics, the degree of the liquidity constraint is represented by the underestimated portion of the human capital. Such a method of implementing the liquidity constraint is useful in treating various types of assets according to their liquidity. Finally, our estimated household consumption function is applied to decompose cross-sectional variances of consumption inequality. The analysis confirms that the overall alleviation in liquidity constraints in Korea after the 1997 currency crisis reduced consumption inequality despite the worsening of income inequality and changes in the demographic composition of family characteristics during the same period.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.157-179
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• 2017

In Korea, 'spoon class discourse' has attracted public attention in the press and among young people, which reflects that mass awareness that the class status structure is clearly rooted in the society becomes widespread. Although income distribution has been improved since late 2000s, it is interesting that Korean people's subjective perception concerning class mobility and social justice has been worsemed. By using the survey data on people's perception of opportunity inequality, this study finds that Korean people have by and large negative subjective awareness regarding socio-economic opportunity inequality, magnitude of opportunity inequality, and achievement by efforts, and that the degree of the negative perception is greater in accordance with the people's subjective identification. The regression analysis reveals that the social status of respondents and their parents(-), experience of discrimination(+), age(-), and high education of college and above (+) have consistent effect over socio-economic opportunity inequality, magnitude of opportunity inequality, and achievement by efforts with statistical significance. More concretely, as people have lower subjective status identification at the time of parent generation and their own generation, as they have the experience of discriminatory misconduct, and as they are young and highly educated, they have negative or pessimistic perception regarding opportuinity inequality. In addition, it is revealed that the unemployed and non-regular workers have significantly negative perception on socio-economic opportunity inequality, magnitude of opportunity inequality, while negative perception on the magnitude of opportunity inequality and achievement by efforts is noticeable among high and middle income households.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.51-83
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• 2018

This study examines whether the widening gap between income groups is worsening in the distribution of time use, similar to the worsening of income distribution after the IMF. To do this, we conducted multilevel analysis (HLM) on six countries including France, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and Korea. The results of the analysis are as follows. First, in all countries, low income groups have a longer paid working time and shorter leisure time. Second, the low income groups in Korea have the longest paid work time and the shortest leisure time, the lowest level of work-leisure balance, and this aspect has not recovered since the IMF. Third, as the result of multilevel analysis, the lower the household income, the more time paid labor increased and the work-leisure balance decreased. Fourth, while average annual working hours increase paid working time, the expansion of family policy expenditure, redistribution policy and income maintenance policy has reduced it. Fifth, the annual average working hours decreased the work-leisure balance, but the family policy expenditure, the redistribution policy and the income guarantee policy increased the work-leisure balance. The significance of this study is that after the IMF, not only the income distribution but also the inequality among the income class in time use has deepened. Based on the results of the research this study suggests the reinforcement of labor time regulation, the activation of parental leave system, the realization of the income replacement rate, the expansion of the policy related to income redistribution, and the complementary development of the income guarantee and the time guarantee policy as the policy intervention strategy that restructures time.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.437-463
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• 2013

As polarization and class reproduction between generations are considered to be serious problems in Korean society, increasing number of assortative mating, which means marrying between homogeneous family background, income class, and educational background, is on the spotlight socially. Some worry that the increase of assortative mating can reinforce closure of social mobility so it deepens inequality and limits class mobility between generations. This research analyzes the effects of accomplishment characteristics of husbands and wives and ascriptive characteristics of parents which consist the concept of assortative mating, on income, consumption, and assets those represent economic status of a family. The purpose of this research is to suggest empirical understanding on the role of assortative mating that affect on inequality within generations and income mobility between generations in Korean society. In the result of multiple regression analysis on the effect of assortative mating on income, consumption, and assets, high educational background was the factor that increase income and consumption level as accomplishment characteristics of assortative mating. As ascriptive characteristics of assortative mating, educational homogeneous of fathers was the factor that increased asset level. While accomplishment characteristics affect income and consumption, ascriptive characteristics of homogeneous had significant effect on assets. Thus, it was found that transfer between generations had effects around asset rather than income. In particular, ascriptive characteristics in young husbands and wives aged 20s or 30s had significant effect only on the assets.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.35-60
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• 2016

This study analyzes the unequal distributional effect of threesome of family policy(child benefit, childcare services and parental leave) focusing on family income, mother's status in labor market in Korea. To measure the unequal distributional effect of family policies, this study used the quantile analysis. The results of this study are as follows. First, in terms of childcare service and parental leave, there is some difference of the rate of use by family income and mother's status in labor market. Second, total public fund for childcare services, child benefits and parental leave are high in fourth income quintile, and mothers work regularly. Third, public fund is high in fourth income quintile, dual earners, mothers work regularly, the family has many number of child, and is high educational level of parents. Finally, the results of quantile regression show the biggest factors of unequal distribution of family policy are mother's stable work and it deepens the inequalities and differences. Based on these results, this article suggests that more equal right to access and use family policy regardless of the type of employment, adequate minimum income through income transfer, and universal application of the policy.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.3-38
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• 2018

This study aims to analyse the redistributive impact of the welfare state growth in Korea after 2000s and establish whether there are people excluded from the benefits of the growth. The growth of the Korean welfare state has been achieved by universalizing welfare benefits under the social insurance-centered institutions which are the legacies of the productivist/developmental welfare regime. When it comes to redistribution impacts, the welfare state growth improved inequality among old age populations to a certain degree due to the introduction of the Basic Pension. On the other hand, welfare benefits for the working poor population has hardly been improved in spite of the growing welfare state. It can be said, therefore, that low-income working-age populations have been excluded from the growth of Korean welfare state. These groups are mostly in middle-old age, unemployed or precariously employed and half of them were female householders. The exclusion of these groups from the Korean welfare state shows that the growth of the Korean welfare state was unbalanced. To include the excluded into the Korean welfare state, it is necessary to increase non-insurance social provisions, extend the range of application of the social insurances, integrate income protection, employment service, and vocational training for the working poor, and combine universal and targeted welfare benefits.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.439-445
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• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate the status of oral health behavior according to economic inequality in Korea. Raw data for the 3rd year (2015) of the 6th national health and nutrition survey were analyzed. Among surveyed individuals, adults over the age of 19 were designated as research subjects. The results indicated that a smaller 'house income' was associated with a higher supply and demand experience for basic living and a higher DMFT. Additionally, a higher DMFT was associated with a lower 'house income', lower 'education level', and the 'experience of basic living security received'. Oral health behavior inequality was caused by economic inequality. Overall, these results indicate that it is necessary for the oral health service of vulnerable groups to strengthen preventive activities through comprehensive arbitration policies regarding the social decision factors of public health projects.