• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.35-66
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• 2001

This study first attempted to measure the job instability of Korean labor market by exploiting the data sets of 1998 and 1999 Korean Labor Panels. In order to compare the degrees of job instability of Korea with the one of U.S., we followed the same empirical methods used by Jaeger and Stevens(1999), Neumark et al.(1999), Bemhardt et al.(1999) recently published in the Journal of Labor Economics (vol. 17). Our empirical results suggest that the job retention rate of the Korean labor market during the IMF economic crisis was decreased to the level that the U.S. labor market has never experienced during the past two decades. One noticeable point regarding our estimated four year retention rate is that it takes a form of plateau peaked around 9 and 15 tenure year, which is in sharp contrast with the four year retention rate of u.S. showing a monotonically decreasing tendency over tenure periods. The comparison of 2-year retention rates before and after the economic crisis suggests that job stabilities has been conspicuously aggravated especially for cohorts of long tenure, irregular job, old age, service and sales jobs.

• Proceedings of the Population Association of Korea Conference
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• 2006.12a
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• pp.131-152
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• 2006

This study examines the causal mechanisms of low fertility and regional differentials in Korea. Utilizing the 2005 census and the 2005 vital statistics, and labor statistics at the regional level, major variables were calculated for administrative units of 234 'Gu's, 'Si's and 'Gun's. Gender equity orientation, labor market insecurity and family formation were hypothesized as key factors of recent decline in Korean fertility. This study first presents four maps of gender equity orientation, labor market insecurity, family formation and fertility. Then ANOVA and path analysis were carried out in an effort to generalize the causal mechanisms. Results of analysis reveal that gender equity orientation has played a central role in the second fertility transition in Korea. In metropolitan regions, however, labor market insecurity is found to have a significant influence on the level of family formation and fertility. Family formation also turns out to be an important intermediate variable of fertility.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.1-29
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• 2017

This study compares and analyzes precarious labor market in Korea and Japan in terms of gender and occupational class. Previous studies have analyzed precarious labor limited to the level of employment type such as non-standard workers. This study reconceptualizes precarious labor in terms of the combination of employment relations and income level. In addition. we analyzed whether there are differences in the characteristics of precarious labor between Korea and Japan. In order to analyze the labor market precariousness in Korea. we used data from the 17th Korea Labor Panel Survey (2014) and for Japan. we used the 9th (2012) data from the Keio Household Panel Survey. As a result. we could confirm the feminization of labor market precariousness and horizontal division by occupation in both Korea and Japan. Also. ordered logistic regression analysis showed that the more women. and those in their 60s or older. the less skilled service workers. or the manufacturing workers are likely to face labor market instability in both Korea and Japan. The results of this analysis reflect the fact that Korea and Japan have experienced similar changes in the labor market structure with institutionalized employment protection system based on male workers.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.247-291
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• 2018

This study investigates the employment structure and the social safety net experience of the subcontracting cleaning workers in Korea, who have been main targets of the labor outsourcing despite the necessity and permanence of their labour. This study specifically focuses on the fact that these subcontracting cleaning workers are mostly female and in their old age, and analyzes how the combination of their age, gender, and employment structure leads to the (mis)match with the Korean social security system. Case study with in-dept interview method has been conducted to the old-aged female subcontracting cleaning workers in Korea. The result of this study is as follows. It was the income insecurity that led them to (re)enter the labour market, and the cleaning work was the almost the only wage work they could do considering their age and gender. Cleaning workers are mostly employed in the subcontracting company, and thus their labour contracts depend on the business contract period between the original and subcontracting company. Consequently, their employment relationship is mostly insecure unless they are guaranteed employment succession through the collective agreement of trade union. Moreover, it has been discovered that the employment insecurity due to the indirect employment relationship led to the poor labour conditions, low wage, and the exclusion from the social safety net.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.221-262
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• 2018

This study aims to explore life experiences associated with poverty and discrimination in processes of growth, career exploration, entry into the labor market, and career accumulation of the working high school graduate youths. With this exploration, we also intent to grasp their difficulties and needs, thus look for policy tasks for them. The analysis is based on qualitative case study. The results are following. Typical working high school graduate youths choose not to go on to university under the influence of unfavorable economic situation of the original families. They enter the labor market without enough career exploration and try to continue working mainly in low-income and unskilled jobs. They usually work long hours to increase incomes, thus, do not have enough time to invest on their own human resources. They locate in a vicious circle of income poverty, time poverty, and skill poverty, but rarely protected by existing employment and income support programs. It is necessary to improve or introduces policy packages including labor market transition support for the high school graduate, education, training, and career exploration support, income support for the working poor, social network support, and support for reducing the dead zone of social insurances.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.277-311
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• 2005

본 연구는 여성이 가족과 일을 병행하려 할 때 안게 되는 이중부담의 양과 유급노동시간과 무급노동시간에 영향을 주는 변수들의 차이를 통해 남성과 여성의 시간사용구조를 살펴보고, 이중부담이 노동시간양${\cdot}$노동시간대${\cdot}$노동장소로 나타나는 여성 유급노동시간에 미치는 영향을 알아보았다. 자료는 통계청의 1999년 생활시간조사 원자료를 이용하였다. 분석결과 맞벌이 가구의 여성은 남성보다 하루 평균 1시간 51분 많은 총노동시간을 가지면서 주당 약 13시간의 이중부담을 가지고 있었다. 이것은 만성과 여성의 노동시간사용구조가 서로 다르기 때문이었다. 즉, 여성은 경제활동에 참여한다할지라도 무급노동시간의 89%를 책임지고 있었으며 여성의 노동시간은 가족상황에 의해 영향을 받는 젠더화된 생활시간사용구조를 가지고 있었다. 또한 기존연구결과와 다르게 가내하청/재택근무, 자영, 무급가족종사와 같은 종사상지위와 미취학자녀의 존재는 여성에게 유급노동시간을 조절하는 기재가 되지 못했고 무급노동시간을 늘리는 역할을 할 뿐이라는 점이 한국사회 여성의 이중부담을 가중시키고 있는 것으로 보인다. 또한 맞벌이가구 여성은 무급노동에의 일차적 책임으로 남성보다 야간유급노동이나 휴일유급노동시간을 줄이고, 단시간노동을 선택하며, 집안에서의 유급노동시간을 길게 하면서 가족생활시간을 확보하는 유급노동시간 조절전략을 사용하고 있었다. 이러한 노동방식은 노동시장에서 여성노동의 불안정성을 만들어내고 주변화시키는 요인이다. 그러나 또 한편으로 서구사회와 비교하면 한국사회에서 여성이 경제활동을 하기 위해서는 광범위한 야간노동과 휴일노동, 장시간노동이라는 남성적 노동조건을 받아들이고 있는 것으로 보인다. 특히 판매/서비스직의 자영자와 무급가족종사자 여성들, 가내하청이나 재택근무를 하는 임금근로자 여성들, 학력이 낮은 기능/조립직과 단순노무직 여성들은 야간노동이나 휴일노동, 집안에서의 유급노동시간이 길뿐 아니라 절대적인 유급노동시간과 무급노동시간도 길게 나타났다. 그러나 미취학자녀의 존재가 이러한 여성적 유급노동시간의 특징에 영향을 주는 것은 아니었다.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.113-136
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• 2010

Low fertility has become quite commonplace worldwide, and Europe has experienced below replacement fertility for several decades. In addition, lowest-low fertility, defined as period total fertility rate below 1.3, has rapidly spread in Europe during the 1990s and is likely to expand further. After the turn of century, lowest-low fertility started spreading in Eastern Asia. Korea's TFR of 1.19 in 2008 is lower than most European countries, although it is higher than the Hongkong(1.02) and Taiwan(1.09). The purpose of this paper is to examine the socioeconomic determinants of lowest-low fertility in Korea. In doing so, this paper discusses the effects of female labour force participation, labour instability on family formation and fertility. The data includes female labour force participation rate, unemployment rate, age at first marriage, and total fertility rate from 1980 to 2008. First, the economic recession hindered young people's economic independence and propensity to marry. Married couples were also depressed with uncertainty toward the future and avoided to have children. Second, the growth in female labor force participation had a negative impact on fertility, under the low level of compatibility between women's work and childrearing. Moreover, this paper argues that the rising cost of children including public and private educational costs is thought to be the main reason of the recent low fertility in Korea. Policy implications and some comments on population policies are also presented in the final section.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.65 no.1
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• pp.201-226
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• 2013

This study aims to identify changes in early work career of youth cohort entering the labor market pre and post-the economic crisis and compare career pathway types of different cohorts. Labor market experiences of youth cohort were constructed by sequencing the number of organizations, kinds of jobs, the scale of the business, and type of employment. In addition, a holistic sequence was created by including complementary factors. In this sense, the labor market experience in this study was conceptualized as a process involving continuous sequences and hierarchical and orderly changes which differs from a simple job mobility. Sequence analysis involving Optimal Matching method was conducted to examine whether such cohort-differences in labor market experiences were related to differences in distribution of career pathway types. The result showed that the post-economic crisis cohort had a relatively higher likelihood of falling into the non-employment type, unemployment type, non-corporate employment type, irregular employment type, and mobile employment type. These findings provide empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis that the employment precariousness of cohort has exacerbated after the economic crisis.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.113-150
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• 2017

This study analyzes how workers become impoverished and have their jobs less stabilized after they suffer from non-job-related sickness. Given that South Korea lacks sickness benefits, which most of OECD member states legislate and implement except US and Switzerland, this study examines its impact on laborers' job stability and povertization in Korea. The researchers have conducted in-depth interviews with nine former or present laborers who have the experiences and four experts on the issue in July-September, 2017 for the qualitative analysis. It is found that laborers, after becoming aware of their sickness, at first endure their pain without informing their employers not to lose their jobs. The attititude is observed especially among non-standard laborers, because sickness more often leads to job loss for them than for standard laborers. After workers have to leave their jobs due to their sickness in the end, they have no choice but to keep working in less stable jobs to compensate for income losses. They become gradually impoverished with their social capital like family bond declining. We observe laborers who are eligible for industrial accident insurance compensation could not benefit from the system because some employers refrain from the legal reporting duty. Due to this illegal practices, some industrial accident victims unduly lose their jobs due to "non-job-related sickness". Second, some employers report to the authority that their sick laborers have left their jobs 'voluntarily' even when they have quitted it without their volition, in which case the newly unemployed are not eligible for unemployment benefits. Large holes in Korea's safety nets for those suffering from multiple risks of sickness and unemployment.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.83
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• pp.157-185
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• 2017

The present study examines the dialectic tensions arising within the ICT-mediated labor culture between the dominant power of conglomerates and the precarious labor subjects in the labor practices, as smartphones and tablet PCs have grown in popularity. The present study explores how much young precarious workers named 'Cheongyeon Alba' (young precariat in S Korea) suffers from continually precarious job positions as temporary staff or contract workers, being trapped at the bottom of the pay scale, and also being electronically connected to the workplace in a seamless way. Concretely, this study investigates how the mobile phone becomes deeply entangled with the 'precarious' labor culture in the metropolitan city of Seoul. The mobile precariat has been in a disadvantaged position, in terms not only of the moral issue of exploitation in business but also of social injustice. Labor exploitation of young workers has been reinforced by the mobile labor culture, in which they are remotely monitored by live surveillance mobile apps, and mobile instant messaging from a boss can intrude incessantly into their private life. This study depicts the extension of the business's surveillant power by mobilizing the mobile phone in the working practices.