• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.42
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• pp.169-198
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• 2000

This paper attempts to analyze the early retirement in the OECD countries and discuss implication of that in the old age policy in Korea. The increase of the early retirement in the almost all OECD countries is a common fact. Especially the rate of early retirement rapidly increased in the 1980s, mostly reflecting the high rate of unemployment and states' policies to reduce it. However, it varies across countries: the unemployment compensation pathway in France, the mixture of social assistance and private insurance in England, VUT in Netherland, the privatization of the early retirement in the U. S., and partial retirement and labor market policy in Sweden. The early retirement in the advanced countries contributes to de-institutionalization and de-standardization in life course model. It resulted in the erosion of the ordinary conception that the retirement was the beginning of the old age. And the last phase of life course became blurred. With respect to the problem of the early retirement, there is a big difference between Korea and the OECD countries. Above all, the retirement age is 55 years in many companies and the public pension is not universalized in Korea. Accordingly the policy for income security of the old age in Korea should be connected with social security policy such as the gradual extension of the retirement age and the expansion of the public pension and labor market policy such as job training for the old age, transformation of the seniority wage system etc.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.65-80
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• 2000

In this paper We measured average earnings differentials between the government and the private sector, the degree of earnings inequality within each sector, and estimated net earnings differentials between the public and private sector in 1982, 1985, 1990, 1995 and 1998, respectively. According to our estimation results, the public servants in Korea are being more paid than the private sector on the average, and have been enjoying higher net wage premium after controlling variables such as education level, job experience and occupation, etc. In terms of earning inequality within each sector, the public sector was proven to have very narrow earnings differentials between the top and the bottom, compared to quite large differentials in the private sector. Wide recognition that the public servants' compensation is lower in Korea seems quite wrong. The problem to be resolved is the earnings standardization in the public sector and the strong trend toward more equality in recent years. We recommend that the wage gap between the higher rank and the lower rank should be extended, and employment flexibility within the lower positions or ranks of the bureaucracy should be enhanced.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.221-251
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• 2018

Two-tier wage systems mean the dual wage systems that the new wage system require the new future employees to get much lower wage level, compared to the level of wages for existing employees under the existing wage system. While it allows employers to benefit from low-cost advantages, the two-tier wage systems is definitely a type of wage discrimination by the collusion between management and trade unions in that it forces the new future employee to accept the low wages. Also it reflects extreme collectivism which old union members try to keep having their jobs and wages at the sacrifice of future members' wages. The two-tier wage systems had been introduced by airplane industry in 1980s and introduced again in Big Three auto companies in 2007. The purpose of this paper is to examine the history, contents, and details of two-tier wage system in the United States and to think of the possibility of recurrence of the systems in the context of Korean auto industry in the near future. The tentative findings from this paper implies that the two-tier wage systems will likely happen in Korean auto industry because the collusion between trade unions and management are found easily and the degree of extreme collectivism favored by the old permanent union members is seriously high. It is time for trade unions to go back to their original ideals and purposes and to revitalize solidarity among workers.

• Issues in Feminism
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.49-83
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• 2011

This article explores the characteristics of care and care labor which is core keyword of the welfare state and the way of institutionalization of care labor, focusing specially on differences among women. Caring is defined by the expression of morality and labor accompanied by concrete action. But, care labor in the welfare state is defined by "activities involved in caring for the ill, elderly, handicapped and dependent", and I think, that definition is more useful than the narrow one for policy institutionalization. But the latter definition intentionally separates the domestic work from care work. Care labor is considered to be different from the market labor in terms of motivations, but there are some limits in standardization and commercialization of the traits of emotional and moral engagement. Thus, requiring of emotional motivation as one of the job descriptions is not realistic. Welfare state is institutionalizing women's unpaid care work in family through de-familization, and its policy tools are cash benefits and services for care-related, which influence to the female wage worker and fulltime housewife, care receiver and care giver, and polarization of women's class in a very different way. Cash benefits enhances the division of gender labor, polarizes the care laborer and weakens of expansion the care as decent job. The movement of feminist welfare state have a vision of universal service expansion and need the policy list for de-gendering of care labor.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.85-127
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• 2017

Due to the management innovation policy that was introduced to governmentsupported research institutes (GSRI) in 1998, their employment structure has been continuously changing, with the most notable increase of the number of non-standard researchers and the diversification of employment contracts. This paper examines changes in the employment structure of GSRI over the last 20 years in relation to the introduction and operation of the PBS (project base system), which is a main factor that fundamentally changed the employment structure of research institutes. This paper purposes to analyze the current status of non-standard workers in the science and technology research area through interviewing standard and non-standard researchers. Under the PBS as a principle of organizing their research project, the project-managers cannot help but exploit non-standard researchers to process research within a tight budget. This structure of organizing research projects reinforces the increase of the number of non-standard researchers and diversification of non-standard employment relations. In addition, the wage and working conditions of non-standard workers are getting aggravated in this structure. Considering the characteristics of research institutes, precarious status of non-standard researchers will have negative effects on the development of science and technology.