• 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 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.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.

• 사회경제평론
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.239-270
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• 2018

This study empirically analyzed the labor income share of primary and subcontractors. The results are as follows. First, panel regression analysis showed that the variables of transaction concentration, outsourcing cost, capital intensity, and market share had a significant negative effect, while union organization rate and R & D investment had positive effects. In particular, the R & D variable had a negative effect on the share of labor income in the year of investment (t), but had a positive impact on the long-term (t-1, t-2). Second, the share of labor income during the last 11 years (2006~2016) was higher in subcontractors with lower wage levels. This analysis implies that the wage inequality between the primary and subcontracting enterprises can not be eliminated without improving the solvency of subcontractors.

• 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'.

• 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.

• Economic Analysis
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.66-122
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• 2019

As the Korean economy grew, employment expanded steadily, with the number of economically active people increasing and the employment-to-population rate also increasing. However, the working age population started to decline in 2017, and the employment of women and young people has been sluggish. The proportion of non-salaried workers in Korea is much higher than in other OECD countries, and is also excessive, considering Korea's income levels. In addition, the proportion of non-regular workers and the proportion of workers employed at small companies are particularly high among salaried workers. In light of these characteristics of Korean employment, the urgent problems facing the employment structure can be summarized by the deepening dual structure of the labor market, the increase in youth unemployment, sluggish female employment figures, and an excessive share of self-employment. Overall, it is seen that labor market duality is the main structural factor of the employment problems in Korea. Therefore, in order to fundamentally address this employment problem, it is necessary to concentrate policy efforts on alleviating labor market duality.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.17-34
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• 2001

This paper is to analyze how firms in a large firm-led industrial city have carried out the restructuring in the face of radical shifts, with focus on the strategy and the restructuring of firms in Ulsan, a typical industrial district in Korea that is specialized in heavy & chemical industry. It has been well known that the local economy has been led by a small number of large firms, including affiliates of chaebol, and its industrial structure has also been characterised as a clear dichotomy between large firms as a customer and small and medium-size firms as a supplier, which can be called not horizontal but vertical relations. It can identify some tendencies, however, that local companies have been rather dynamically changing in response to increasingly turbulent environment since the Asian crisis. Some are radical, but some incremental. These can be summarized in four distinctive but interlinked ways. First, more than half of local companies surveyed have attempted to change their production systems, mainly from the fordist mass production towards the flexible mass production, seeking both economies of scale and scope. Second, local firms have vigorously continued to reorganize the boundary of the production and the organization, by specializing products and focusing on the core competence in order to save costs and cope with radically changing customer demands in a flexible way. Third, there have been various strategies for the organizational innovation such as the introduction of team organization, the boundary blurring between the managerial and production workers and the intra-firm spin-offs, so as to improve managerial efficiency and competence in the use of internal labour market. Finally, they have tried to be more sensitive to the market and customers. These tendencies seem to be increasingly critical to sustain their competitiveness. To do so, they tend to focus increasingly not only on the competing via the product quality rather than through price, but also to seek to diversify the market and customer firms beyond national boundary.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.79-112
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• 2000

This study was focused on the contrasting pattern of part-time employment between Japan and Taiwan where the environments are similar in terms of expanding service industries and increasing flexibility of labor. In Japan, the expansion of part-time employment and its feminization have occurred, whereas they have not at all in Taiwan. The purpose of this study was to examine the reasons behind this phenomena, and to explore what relations they might have with the supply of women\`s labor in each country. Data analysis showed the following results. First, when the phenomena of part-time employment in Japan and Taiwan are summarized as \`active\` and \`inactive\` models, the difference could be explained by a structure-oriented approach rather than an individual-oriented approach. In other words, the difference between the two countries is mainly because of the structural characteristics of the labor market. a combination of capitalism and patriarchy, and an effect of state welfare and family policies rather than a \`voluntaristic choice\` due tn household work and child rearing. In light of this. the labor market segmentation and flexibility of labor theory in particular provided a useful frame for explanation. Second, with regard to the supply of women\`s labor, the difference between Japan and Taiwan could be found in the structure of the labor market and in family response strategies. The large corporation-oriented and strictly divided labor market structure in Japan activated part-time employment and its feminization, whereas, the small family-oriented businesses and less divided labor market in Taiwan supported the continuity of full-time employment of married women. There was also a room for informal employment in Taiwan which made part-time employment unnecessary. This study showed that even within similar environments of expanding service industry and pursuing flexibility of labor different measures and adaptations were possible. The case of Taiwan in particular, showed the significance of an informal labor market which was a part of industrialization process and a strategy of producing various products through a subcontracting network.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.720-735
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• 2009

This paper studies the characteristics of the restructuring of chemical industrial complex in JiLin city since 1978 focusing on enterprise organization, the process of production, labor, and consumer market. The number of chemical industrial enterprises and their partnership with subcontractors have increased since 2001. As for the type of cooperation group, research institutes and local government are accounted for the greatest portion. The chemical industrial enterprise in JiLin which has adopted Fordism production method still has the highest percentage in 2007. And in the shift process of production system after China's entry into WTO(in 2001), chemical industrial enterprise in JiLin city takes allowing more investment in production technologies as core strategy, while taking improvement in equipment and development of new products as core strategy in the shift process of production technology. The degree of labor re-education was highest in 2007, and as for the relationship between labor and management, enterprises which evaluate the ability of performance of duty are increasing. The characteristics of restructuring of chemical industrial complex on consumer market, domestic market accounted for the greatest portion, on the other side the export is feeble. As for strategy of market restructuring, industrial enterprise in JiLin city should use Quality improvement and high-value added as core strategies to cope with alteration of market.