• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.65 no.3
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• pp.183-206
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• 2013

Using Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (wave 1~11) database, this study analyzed the poverty duration of the poor as a whole and by households' characteristics. For this purpose, I first estimated poverty exit rates and reentry rates applying discrete-time hazard model to the sample, and then calculated poverty duration combining these two probability rates. The results show that about a half of poor households are transitory (short-term) poor with 1~2 years of poverty duration. A quarter is chronic (long-term) poor lasting for 5 or more years of poverty duration. The remained quarter can be categorized as the recurrent or mid-term poor. The socioeconomic characteristics of households greatly affect poverty duration. Long-term poverty is prevalent among female-head households, elderly households, single households, or households headed by a person with a lower level of education. If households' heads do not work, or work as temporary or daily-employed workers, the poverty duration tends to be longer. The findings suggest that the poor consist of various social classes with different characteristics. Efficient anti-poverty policy should be based on thoroughly identifying the specific characteristics and needs of each class.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.131-142
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• 2018

Since income growth rate and poverty level are related, there is a possibility that the poverty rate may converge in the long run steady state as well. If the poverty rate converges, then for this study the state that begins with the high poverty rate would have a higher poverty reduction rate. To examine the convergence of poverty rate among the US states, this study uses two times series methodologies. First, in order to prevent the power loss from ignoring the structural break when testing for a unit root in a single time series, this study employs the newly developed panel LM unit root tests with level and trend shifts. The results of unit root tests of the log of poverty rate without allowing for structural breaks show that twenty six states reject the null hypothesis of unit root test for the ADF test, twenty five states for the LM test, and thirty five states for the RALS-LM test. The result of unit root tests that allow one structural break shows that the null hypothesis of a unit root test is rejected for twenty two states with the LM test, and thirty three states with the RALS-LM test. This supports poverty rates are converging among US states.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.351-374
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• 2005

This study examines dynamics of poverty in Korea, focusing on poverty duration and its determinants. Data come from Korean Labor and Income Panel Study(KLIPS), 1998-2003. KLIPS is a longitudinal survey of 5,000 families and their members which are representative of urban residents in Korea. Respondents of KLIPS annually report detailed information on their income, economic activities, and other socio-economic characteristics. This study use poverty exit probabilities to generate distributions of spell lengths, following Bane and Ellwood(1986)'s methodology. This study finds a high level of poverty exit rates in Korea. About three quarters of those beginning a poverty spell exit from poverty within two years. Only 14.3 percent of all the poverty spells consist of long spells which persists five years or more. Yet, a different picture emerges when spells of the poor persons at a given time are analysed. Persistent poor occupy a considerable share of all the poor. Almost 50 percent of those who would be in poverty at a given time are in the midst of poverty spells lasting five years or more. When repeat spells of poverty are also included in the analyses, the proportion of long-term poor increases further. 63 percent of persons poor at a given time are long-termers. The majority of long-term poor are members of families headed by the aged. They show both a low level of poverty exit rates and a high level of reentry rates, and thus are most likely to experience long-term poverty. In the first place, they occupy a substantial share of all the poor. The second who are likely to be poor longer is members of families headed by non-aged women. Researchers have recentlty paid much attention to the working poor who have increased since the economic crisis in 1997. Yet, it is very likely that families headed by non-aged male who largely consist of the working poor temporarily experience poverty. Findings for this study suggest that further studies and policy proposals addressing persistent poverty are necessary.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.301-322
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• 2013

By analyzing wave 1~11 (1998~2008) of Korean Labor and Income Panel Study(KLIPS) database, this study examines the effects of household characteristics and poverty duration on poverty exit. A special concern is to decide whether the decrease of poverty exit rates comes from true duration dependency or from the sample heterogeneity as poverty duration progresses. I also analyzed how the effects of independent variables are changed when unobserved heterogeneity is controlled. The results show that duration dependency disappears after controlling observed household characteristics and unobserved individual heterogeneity. This finding confirms that the apparent relationship between poverty exit rate and poverty duration is in fact a spurious association due to the sample heterogeneity rather than true duration dependency. In addition, the effects of household characteristics on poverty exit rate become more stronger when unobserved heterogeneity is controlled. Socioeconomic factors affecting poverty exit rates are such as householders' age, education, household composition, number of family members, labor force participation, and work status.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.21-30
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• 2019

Purpose - While many related prior studies have focused on the segregation by race and ethnicity, the academic interest in the separation of residence by income and social class is gradually increasing. This study aims to not only investigate spatial pattern of economic segregation and poverty rate in South Korea, but also shed light on what affect residential distribution of the poor. Research design, data, and methodology - The unit of analysis is Si-Gun-Gu municipal level entities of South Korea. Most demographic, socioeconomic, and residential variables were derived from Korean Census Data in 2015. In order to examine spatial patterns of economic segregation and poverty rate in South Korea, a series of measurements and visualization was conducted through the Geo-Segregation Analyzer and ArcGIS programs. Determinants of economic segregation and local poverty rates were investigated by regression analyses using STATA. Results - The spatial patterns of areas with high poverty rates were extremely clustered, while the distribution of areas with high economic segregation was relatively evenly distributed. Demographic, residential, and local factors appeared to affect whether the poor live in particular area or spread evenly. Conclusions - The factors that raise the poverty rate result in lower level of economic segregation, while factors that reduce the poverty rate lead to severe level of economic segregation.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.89-112
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• 2017

Because of low amounts of pension benefit, the Basic Pension of Korea has played a very limited role in reducing the high poverty rates of the elderly. Based on an empirical analysis of the poverty alleviation effect of alternative pension amounts, this paper shows that although the higher basic pension amounts help to reduce the absolute poverty rate of the elderly, it cannot significantly reduce the relative poverty rates. Authors contends that the main objective of the basic pension should be targeted to combat the absolute poverty level. This paper also argues that in order to reduce the relative poverty level of the elderly, the benefit level of National Pension should also be increased.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.85-106
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• 2009

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the structural determinants of regional variations of poverty in Korea. Poverty rates and independent variables in Seoul, 6 other metropolitan areas, and 8 provinces except Jejudo from the year of 1998 through 2006 were pooled as unit of analysis. The pooled cross-sectional time-series regression(TSCSREG) using SAS program was adapted for the analysis. As a result of the analysis, absolute poverty and relative poverty of Gangwondo and Chungcheongnamdo were relatively higher, and that of Seoul and Ulsan metropolitan area were lower than other areas. And, the increase of financial self-reliance, social welfare expenditure, rate of standard workers, and rate of workers in manufacturing sector were associated with lower poverty rates. Therefore, place-based policies should be considered as another poverty-fighting tool in conjunction with people-based policies.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.39
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• pp.157-179
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• 1999

This study is an empirical research to analyze how many private income transfers in Korea decrease poverty rate, to compare the effects of private income transfers' decreasing poverty rate with income classes. This study has utilised the Family Income and Expenditure Survey to estimate the poverty ratio in urban areas and Unemployment Household Survey which Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs has investigated at 1998. Majour findins are these. First, Sizes of private transfers incomes are much than that of public transfers incomes. The rates in receiving private transfers income are ten times higher than that in receiving public transfers income among urban worker's household. The mean of private transfer income are about six times larger than that of public transfer income among urban worker's household. Second, the effects of private income transfers' reducing poverty rates are not large. After private transfers, urbarn workers' households are about 10 per cent away from its poverty line, and unemploy households are only 3 per cent away from its poverty line. Third, especially, private income transfers are hardly reducing poverty rates among extreme poverty class. After private transfers, urban workers' households which their incomes are within low 5%, are not away from its poverty line at all.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.36
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• pp.65-99
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• 2011

The main purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between child poverty rate and family policy expenditure of welfare states (focusing on OECD countries). We analyzed not only the total social & family policy expenditures but the components of the family policy expenditure. OECD SOCX and calculated data from the LIS & OECD data were utilized for child and family policy expenditures and the poverty rate. One-way correlation and cluster analysis were employed for the analysis. The analytic results are as follows: Southern European and Anglo-Saxon countries' child poverty rates were higher and Scandinavian countries' child poverty rates were lower than any other clusters. The countries with high child poverty rate had higher child poverty rate than the entire nation's poverty rate, but Scandinavian countries' child poverty rate was lower. There was a strong correlation between family policy expenditure and child poverty rate. Especially the service expenditure and leave benefit expenditure were highly correlated with child poverty rate. On the other hand, cash expenditure was not significantly correlated with child poverty rate. We can suggest the policy implications from these results. Based on the analytic results, policy implications that the government should increase the family policy budget, especially the budget for family services and leave benefit to decrease child poverty rate and should make effort to support the employment of parents through policies such as active labor market strategies can be suggested.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.48
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• pp.82-112
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• 2002

This study investigates the causes of poverty in Korea since the 1997 Economic Crisis by analyzing the composition and characteristics of the poor by the types of families. While the poor largely consisted of disadvantaged groups, such as the aged, the disabled, or the female-headed families before the Crisis, families headed by working-aged and non-disabled adults have represented a larger portion of the entire poor since the Crisis. The higher overall poverty rate in 1998 mainly resulted from the rapid increase in the number of the unemployed and the high poverty rate of their families. In 1999, the larger number of the unemployed poor exited from poverty by getting a job in the labor market, contributing to the reduction in the overall poverty rate. The significant number of families headed by working adults were poor in 1998, and the size of these working poor was not reduced in 1999. The poverty among this group has been caused by lowered wage rates and deteriorating job security. The findings from this study suggest that anti-poverty policies in Korea be improved to provide better income and employment assistance to the non-working poor and, more importantly, be extended to effectively reduce poverty among the working low-income families.