• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.5-36
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• 1998

This study examines the change of female labor market structure during the last several decades, focusing the effects of demographic factors such as declining fertility and increasing educational attainment of women. Women of the recent cohort tend to postpone their first marriages, to attain higher levels of education, and to have smaller number of children than women of the old cohort. This demographic trend results in the change of the population compositions in a way that population subgroups with high labor force participation have been increased. In addition, women of each population subgroup supply their labor in the market with higher rate than their old cohort counterparts. The labor force participation rate of highly educated women, and of married women has been increased faster than that of women with low education and of unmarried women. Although childbirth is still one of the most critical barrier for the women's participation, more and more women with young children tend to work for pay than ever before. In spite of the demographic change which is supportive to the increasing labor force participation, the Korean labor market have lost its female participants for the last year of the economic restructuring, reflecting demand-side factors as well as demographic factors are essential to determine the labor force participation of women.