• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.61-95
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• 2003

This paper investigates the characteristics of Japanese vocational education and training(VET) system and its recent changes with regard to the labour market changes under the long-term economic depression. The employment system model of Marsden(1999) is used as an analytical framework. By the review of 'the debate of intellectual skill', it is pointed out that the fundamental characteristic of Japanese VET system lies in forming multi-functional workers by the internal promotion in connection with the OJT-focused enterprise training along the job-competency rank system. In this system 'the skill as work-competency' is not institutionalised. By the long-term depression this type of internal labour market (ILM) has been under serious changes. By the policy analyses it is made clear that the direction of its change is not toward the collapse of the ILM. A series of labor market and VET policies does aim at sustaining the ILM by the introduction of the unified job qualification system, which is expected to institutionalise the widening external labour market into the craft-based labour market.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.31-52
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• 2010

Internal labor market in a firm is normally designed to solve the adverse-selection problem as well as the moral hazard problem in the world of information asymmetry. The internal labor market of a Korean university as a non-profit organization should have the same function as the firm. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the economic performances of a university's internal labor market, using confidential data. And I suggest how to improve the performances of a Korean university's interal labor market. Specifically, I suggest incentive pay for university professors. I also suggest eight job classification and job-related pay system for staffs and secretaries to enhance the efficiency of the university's internal labor market.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.57
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• pp.84-108
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• 2012

This article is concerned with exploring labour market transformation in newspaper industry and thereby looking into skill formation and professionalization of journalists. In Korea, according to previous research, newspaper journalist labour market had been characterized by a low inter-firm mobility of workers and patterns of long-term employment and firm-based skill training. However, over the past few years, as new product strategies of newspaper firms has changed due to management crisis employers pull back from the responsibilities of investment on skill training and securing job stability for journalists. However, in spite of overall weakened firm-based skill formation systems within the market, there still seems to be long way to build alternative systems of skill developments for them. As a result, it will be argued that, in the absence of manifest labor market institutions such as apprenticeships or skill certification system, which are assumed to traditionally certify workers' professionalization, occupational identity and professionality of newspaper journalist labour market will be weakened. Labor market data from interviews with journalists in the newspaper industry are used in order to test this hypothesis.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.147-174
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• 2007

This study examines how path dependency of working poor labor market segmented from the primary and the secondary labor market affects employment and quality of employment of working poor. It Further examines how path dependency makes working poor to remain in the labor market and makes it difficult for them to escape from a vicious poverty cycle. Data is based on the $3{\sim}7th$ Korea Labor and Income Panel Study(KLIPS). Markov's transition probability and discrete-time hazard analysis are used for analysis. This study finds that Korea labor market is divided into three parts; the primary labor market, the secondary labor market and the working poor labor market. The proportion of employed poor has been reduced, but the proportion of non economically-active working poor has been increased and has become the main group among the working poor. This shows that labor demand of working poor is fundamentally lacking and there are structural barriers that block working poor's employment itself. The regression analysis shows that the longer working poor labor market participation is, the lower poverty-exit rate. This is an evidence of vicious poverty cycle that the poor have little chance to exit from working poor labor market, once they step into it. Therefore, the longer their participation in poor labor market, the more likely they would move only within the closed working poor labor market. Consequently, it is necessary to fundamentally reform labor market structure and to alleviate negative perception and discrimination about the poor labor while activating labor demand.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.83-124
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• 2018

In this study, with the data of Human Capital Corporate Panel(HCCP) we find that the explaining power of the new hiring rate of experienced regular workers is very strong and statistically significant as a main causal factor to the decreasing trend of investment on education and training for workers in corporates, which means a sign of weakening of the internal labor market. Possibility of wage penalty from switching jobs has been weakened considerably too. The effective alternative policy measures to the weakening or laxity of the internal labor markets and whereby followed reduction in investment on education and training for workers in corporates are construction of social system outside of individual corporates to upbring field-tailored manpower of high quality for young generations and small and medium sized enterprises.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.41-61
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• 1995

본 연구는 노동시장의 성별직종분리(occupational sex segregation)를 초래하는 요인들을 대분류 및 세분류 사업체를 단위로 규명하고자 하였다. 분석결과를 요약하면, 첫째, 사업체 성별직종분리에 영향을 미치는 요인 중 가장 중요한 것은 직급근로자 비율, 숙련기술자 비율, 그리고 사업체의 조직화 정도로 구성되어 있는 내부노동시작 특성으로 나타났다. 둘째, 사업체는 산업의 성별직종분리에 의해 영향을 받는 것으로 밝혀져 산업 전반에서 남성과 여성의 직종을 구분해 온 관행이 개별 사업체의 성별분리구조를 형성하고 고착화시키는 역할을 하는 것으로 보인다. 세째, 가정한 바와는 달리, 여성의 개인적인 자질향상이 성별직종분리의 개선과 직결되지는 않을 것으로 보인다. 그러나 평균 근속년수비는 성별직종분리를 감소시키는 것으로 나타나 여성이 노동시장에 지속적으로 참여하는 것이 성별직종분리를 개선할 수 있음을 시사한다. 네째, 사업체 성별직종분리 현상에 대한 내부노동시장 특성들의 높은 설명력과 여성의 경쟁력이 보여준 극히 미미한 설명력은 앞으로 산업구조 및 노동력의 유연화 추세에 직면하여 성별직종분리 구조의 개선 가능성에 대해 상반된 기대를 갖게 만든다.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.177-208
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• 2011

This article examines that how in-house subcontract has been introduced and developed in metal industry in 1970s, focusing typical workplaces in steel industry. That was essential for the capital to insure control mechanism for large number of laborer because of mobilizing a large scale of capital in industrialization of heavy metal industry. In case of Pohang steel industry, this necessity was fulfilled by introduction and imitation of Japanese personnel management by being included of Japanese economic hinterland. This was embodied in both constructing internal labor market for regular workers and introducing in-house subcontracting system for contingent workers at workplaces. This was exceptional comparing in-house subcontracting system in Korean steel industry with in-house subcontracting system in advanced economies, because of disappearing in-house subcontracting system by making internal labor market. And this was closely linked by late development of Korea. Implications of Pohang steel company's case are as follows : first, late development effect in formation of employment system, second, in linking informality of Korean employment system. This implications mean that in-house subcontracting in steel industry is structured as mechanism for personnel management in large factory being influenced by industrialization of heavy industry. In this point, improvements which include wide economic solution beyond labor solution for present problem of in-house subcontracting system is desirable.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.107-156
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• 2018

This article examines the history of the in - house subcontracting and the stabilization of labor - management relations in the steel industry in Japan. The ratio of in-house subcontract workers among steel workers has increased steadily until the mid-2000s, and about 70% in case of the largest company. In-house subcontracting was used as a strategy of the company to increase the quantity flexibility of employment and to save labor costs. The in-house subcontracting company needed company-specialized skills, and the internal labor market was formed because the rate of full-time workers was high and the turnover rate was low. The in-house subcontractor introduced long-term business relationship with the steel factory by introducing the equipment and materials necessary for the performance of the work, and the factory implemented the productivity improvement policy of the in-house subcontractor, and the win-win relationship between the factory and in-house subcontractor was developed. The trade union did not oppose the idea that the expansion of in-house subcontracting contributed to corporate profits, the stability of employment of the members and maintenance of their working conditions. Since 2000, the steel factory has pursued the transformation of in - house subcontractors into subsidiaries, which has been supported by capital relations. By the way, since the mid-2000s, there has been an increase in the number of regular workers' employment. The major factors are as follows: more strengthened compliance with laws and regulations, the higher quality request of customers, stricter keeping of deadlines, and problem in recruiting of workers at in-house subcontract companies. The wage gap between the factory and in - house subcontracting was less at company B than at company S, and the wage level of in - house subcontracting was about 90% of the factory at company B. The relatively small gap at company B seems to be due to the union's movement of narrowing the gap, low market dominance and unfavorable labor market. The internal labor market has been formed in the in-house subcontracting, and the wage gap is not large, and the possibility of labor disputes is low. Industrial relations are stable in the in-house subcontract company as well as the factory. The stabilization of labor-management relations in the steel industry in Korea is required to reduce the wage gap between the factory and in-house subcontract enterprises by raising productivity and expanding the internal labor market at in-house subcontract enterprises.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.105-137
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• 2013

This paper proposes to examine the relationship between the two trade unions of Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) - those of the regular workers and of the in-house subcontract workers - around the issue of converting irregular workers to regular ones, which has been a social issue for a long time, and, furthermore, to find a desirable solution. The politics of the in-house subcontracting rotate around three axes: the conflictive collusion between the company and the regular workers'union regarding the internal labor market; the exclusion and resistance between the company and the subcontract workers'union; and the solidaristic conflict relationship between the two unions. After the final decree by the supreme court in 2012 the conflict and collusion/solidarity relationship of the three social actors have been amplified in scale - the continuous limping of the special bargaining between the company and the unions, the intensified conflict between the company and the subcontract workers'union, and the crisis of the collusion between the branches of the two unions are all evidence of this. A clue to the solution to the issues of in-house subcontracting in HMC can be found through reestablishment of the relationship among the three actors. In order to solve the in-house subcontracting issues in HMC, phased and lawful switching from irregular to regular positions, improvement of working conditions for the irregular workers, integration of the two unions (realization of 'one company one union'), and negotiated flexibility in the internal labor market will be required. Also to be considered are installation of a special committee for the issue, and utilization of external consultants. The result would be the possibility for the corporate labor market of HMC to be composed of regular workers, legal contract workers and directly-employed contract workers, which could be realized through bilateral relations of 'the labor and management conflict partnership'.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.79-108
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• 2017

Using data sets from the Korean Labour and Income Panel Study (KLIPS) for the period 2003-2015, this study shows that wages of nonunion workers are positively related to the percentage of unionized workers in the same geographic region. A 10 percentage point increase in a region's union density is associated with a 4.9 percent increase in the region's average wage of nonunion workers. It is also shown that this positive spillover effect is observed for various subgroups of nonunion workers, including women, youth, low-educated workers, small firm employees, and those employed under nonstandard work arrangements. In contrast, the average wage of union workers is found to respond insignificantly to changes in a region's union density.