• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-27
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• 2008

This study analyzes the causes of increase in temporary workers observed in the recent Korean labor market. In the analysis of sectors with relatively high ratio of temporary workers, the manufacturing sector tends to hire temporary workers in order to raise profitability, while wholesale & retails and construction sectors tend to employ temporary workers due to the fluctuation of product demand. Another possibility is that with the expansion of college graduates, it is likely that temporary jobs are used as a screening device to reduce the uncertainty of workers quality.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.95-123
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• 2001

One of the most pronounced phenomenon among the changes in the 1990s' Korean labor market is the growth of the share of temporary and daily workers. Yet, it is still not clear exactly how the phenomenon should be interpreted. In order to look into the phenomenon, the paper introduces various definitions of employment status based upon multi-dimensional classification criteria and estimates their sizes using the EAPS Supplemental Survey of August 2000 by the National Statistical Office of Korea. According to the data set, the share of temporary employment by the OECD standards is 17.6% which is higher than most European countries but not far away from them unlike some popular claims. Further, it is shown that the high proportion of temporary and daily workers among the employees, currently above 50%, is possibly due not only to the increased employment instability but also to the widened differentiation among workers in terms of fringe benefits such as the retirement pay and social insurances.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.31-72
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• 2021

This study uses the 12-21st waves of KLIPS to estimate the effect of the increase in the minimum wage on the individual's labor market transition through a multinomial logit. In particular, we examine whether there was an additional effect of the rapid increase in the minimum wage in 2018. The main results of this study are as follows. First, the increase in the minimum wage in Korea is found to have increased the probability of becoming unemployed for both wage workers and self-employed, but there is no additional impact found from the 2018 minimum wage increase. Second, the increase in the minimum wage is found to increase the likelihood of the self-employed entering into wage workers, especially temporary and daily workers. Third, we have found that the increase in the minimum wage in 2018 adversely affected self-employed people with high school education, and significantly lowered young wage workers entering into self-employed. Our results suggest that the recent increase in the minimum wage may be responsible for declining self-employment rate in Korea, and may have a negative effect on the quality of employment because the increase in minimum wage can lead to an increase in temporary and daily wage workers.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.93-124
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• 2018

Using the Korean Survey of Household Finances and Living Conditions panel data from 2012~2016, this study analyzed youth (19~34 years) poverty and employment and examined the factors that affect employment status. The analysis revealed an increase in the proportion of young people who are students or jobless; the economic conditions of the young people varied by factors such as marital status, education, job status, and loans; and the government public transfer policy had little impact on reducing the relative poverty rate of the youth. We also examined the factors affecting the youth's employment status and the risk of being employed in low-paid jobs, using multi-logit and logit regression model respectively. Considering employment status, the older and more educated the youth were, the less frequently they were employed in temporary or daily jobs instead of regular ones, but there was no difference between genders in terms of having temporary or daily jobs. A logit analysis on the determinants of low-paid jobs demonstrated that women, the less educated, spouses or children of the household, and temporary or daily workers have a greater probability of working at low-paid jobs. As women became older, their risk of having low-paid jobs increased, which demonstrated the phenomenon of "lock-in" at low-paid jobs. Temporary or daily workers of all age groups faced a higher risk of lowpaid employment, which stood out for the youth. Based on these results, we suggest that government employment and welfare policies should consider individual characteristics of the youth and their life cycle, along with efforts to supply decent jobs, continuously and stably.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.184-191
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• 2018

Background: Due to an increasing number of workers aged 50 years and above, the number of those employed is also on the rise, and those workers aged 50 and over has exceeded 50% of the total fatal occupational injuries. Therefore, it is necessary to implement the selection and concentration by identifying the characteristics of high-risk groups necessary for an effective prevention against and reduction of fatal occupational injuries. Methods: This study analyzed the characteristics of high-risk groups and the occupational injury fatality rate per 10,000 workers among the workers aged 50 and over through a multi-dimensional analysis by sex, employment status of workers, industry and occupation by targeting 4,079 persons who died in fatal occupational injuries from January 2007 to December 12. Results: The share of the workers aged 50 years and above is increasing every year in the total fatal occupational injuries occurrence, and the high-risk groups include 'male workers' by sex, 'daily workers' by worker's status, 'craft and related-trades workers' by occupation, and 'mining' by industry. Conclusion: The most frequent causal objects of fatal occupational injuries of the workers aged 50 years and above are found out to be 'installment and dismantlement of temporary equipment and material on work platforms including scaffold' in the construction industry and 'mobile crane, conveyor belt and fork lifts' in the manufacturing industry.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.103-116
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• 2017

We studied the actual condition of work environment and work morale according to the type of employment of service workers by using the raw data of the Fourth Work Environment Survey (2014) conducted by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. In this study, the condition of work environment were composed of work posture, emotional labor, and work autonomy. Also, dimensions related to work morale were composed of competence, job satisfaction, social support, and job stress. In addition, the employment was classified into three types of regular workers, temporary workers, and daily workers. The results showed that temporary and daily workers were more likely to work in a less favorable environment than regular workers, and there was a close correlation between work environment and work morale. Based on this study, it is possible to know about the actual situation and problems of the service workers, and it is hoped that company can search for measures to increase the working environment and work morale of the workers in order to provide better service.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.337-344
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• 2005

Objectives : Job insecurity, such as non-standard work, is reported to have an adverse impact on health, regardless of health behaviors. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between non-standard employment and health in Korea. Methods : We analyzed a representative weighted sample, which consisted of 2,112 men and 1,237 women, aged 15-64, from the 1998 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Non-standard employment included part-time permanent, short time temporary and daily workers. Self-reported health was used as a health indicator. Results : This study indicated that women were more likely to report poorer health than men with standard jobs. Of all employees, 20.3% were female manual workers. After adjusting for potential confounders, such as age, education, equivalent income, marital, social and self-reported economic status and health behavior factors, nonstandard employment was found to be significantly associated with poor health among female manual workers (OR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.24 to 2.79). No significant association was found in other working groups Conclusions : Among female manual workers, nonstandard employees reported significantly poorer health compared with standard workers. This result raises concern as there are increasing numbers of non-standard workers, particularly females.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.213-260
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• 2013

This study pays attention to the restricted use and the possibility of standard position of contingent workers in Brazil. The labor market of Brazil has been developed by formal and informal labor sector, and informal sector includes various precarious workers as well as contingent workers. According to Brazilian Statistics Department, not contingent workers but informal labor focused in this paper have been slowly decreased since year 2000. In this context, this study investigated on the reasons of decreasing contingent employment in Brazil. The results demonstrate that decreased informal employment and instead increased standard workers could not be interpreted by recent the Braizil's economic boom. Along with literature review, the author conducted the case study regarding employment of contingent workers at six large foreign companies in Sao Paulo. The results of this show that the use of contingent employment was prohibited in regular daily works by the labor law and thus firms employed contingent workers in only temporary positions. Further, firms often promise standard positions for contingent workers when temporary employment contract was terminated since there is little or no exist of the differences of wage between standard and contingent worker in terms of 'same work same wage' and 'minimum wage'. In here, labor unions play a key role in employment change from contingent position to standard job. Consequently, decreasing of contingent workers and stepping stone to regular jobs seems to be triggered by both legal regulation on contingent employment and strong unions. This institutional perspective may extend the theoretical view on the use of contingent workers, and the author discuss that Brazil's case could provide practical implications to Korean labor policy.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.111-139
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• 2005

This study analyzed employment instability, defining the increase of employment instability as 'a greater possibility of losing a job and a declining possibility of re-employment'. Flow variable measurements showed that the extent of employment instability was higher post 2000 compared to the period of before financial crisis. When considering the status of workers, such an increase in employment instability can be characterized by a greater possibility of unemployment for daily workers. If this is examined in conjunction with job creation and destruction, employment instability is increased not because there are less jobs being created but because there is an actual decline in the number of jobs and also because the jobs that are being created are mostly temporary. On the other hand the increased instability is due to the large-scaled public work policy under the financial crisis.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.85-110
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• 2009

The aim of this study was to examine whether health status is different according to employment status and income level in wage-earners. We analyzed wage-earners of 2199 men and 1194 women aged 30-64 years, using data from the 2006 Korean Labor and Income Panel Study(KLIPS). The difference of health status according to employment status and income level was compared with the multiple logistic regression and the standardized concentration index of ill-health. The risk of ill-health was high when waged-earners had low income. The same is true for poor employment status when their employment status was unstable as in manual laborers, irregular workers, temporary, daily workers or part-time workers. furthermore, the wage-earners with lower income and a relatively disadvantageous employment status showed the lowest health status compared to other groups. Ill-health was relatively more concentrated in lower income group and poor employment status. This study identified the existence of health inequality among various employment status of wage-earners. It is suggested that policies that deal with the inequality in social class may have an important impact on the health of the population.