Changing trends of work in South Korea: The rapid growth of under-employment and job insecurity

Asian Survey

Volumn 46, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 437-456

  Kim, Andrew Eungi ^a   Park, Innwon ^a  

^a Korea University   (South Korea)

Author keywords

Employment; Financial crisis; Korea; Underemployment; Work

Indexed keywords

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS; EMPLOYMENT; FINANCIAL CRISIS; PERCEPTION; QUALITY OF LIFE; UNEMPLOYMENT;

ASIA; EURASIA; FAR EAST; KOREA; SOUTH KOREA;

EID: 33745358867     PISSN: 00044687     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1525/as.2006.46.3.437     Document Type: Article

References (46)

1. "Siljil Sobi 20% Choedae Gamso" [Actual consumption dips by up to 20%], Hankyoreh [Hankyoreh News] (Seoul), September 7, 1998.
2. Andrew Fungi Kim, "The Social Perils of the Korean Financial Crisis," Journal of Contemporary Asia 34:2 (May 2004), pp. 221-37.
3. National Statistical Office, Employment Patterns, 1967-98.
4. What must be noted here is that "unemployment shock" has greater impact on Korean families than it has on their American or European counterparts, because more Korean households have husbands as the sole income earner and because most Korean families allow children to rely on their parents' financial support until they get married. The relative lack of a social safety net is another reason why unemployment is more devastating for Korean families. Being laid off is like a death sentence in Korea. It is not just a deprivation of the means to earn a livelihood; it means social death, loss of face in a society where one's occupation is more intimately linked to social status than in most other societies. Status means practically everything in Korea. Being laid off is also harsher for Koreans than for people of many other societies because the chance of finding comparable employment is limited by firms' age-based seniority system.
5. Hagen Koo, "The Dilemmas of Empowered Labor in Korea: Korean Workers in the Face of Global Capitalism," Asian Survey 40:2 (March/April 2000), pp. 227-50.
6. Workers with low education were more susceptible to layoffs immediately following the financial crisis. According to a poll by the National Statistical Office in 1998, the unemployment rate rose 49% among those with college or higher education, while the rates for those with high school diplomas and those with only middle school education jumped 60.4% and 112.3%, respectively. See National Statistical Office, Employment Patterns, 1998.
7. T. Kim and B. Cheon, "Corporate Restructuring, Labor Reform, and Industrial Relations," Korea Focus 10:5 (September/October 2002), pp. 130-48. It is agreed that layoffs in Korea are carried out rather inefficiently; they tend to be applied disproportionately to rank and file workers.
8. Byung-yu Cheon, "Gyungjewigijeonhu Goyonganjeongui Byunhwa" [Changes in job security before and after the financial crisis], research paper (Seoul: Korea Labor Institute, 2002).
9. J. Jang, "Urinara Goryeongja Nodongsijang Hyunhwang" [Labor market for the aging workers of Korea], research paper (Seoul: Korea Labor Institute, 2003).
10. The unemployment rate in Korea is misleading for three reasons. First, it does not include hundreds of thousands of unemployed people who have given up on finding jobs (as many as 490,000 individuals, according to one 2001 estimate). See Beomsik Kim, "Choegeun Nodongsijangui Haengtaebyunhwawa Chegamsileopyul" [Recent changes in the labor market and the felt unemployment rate], research paper (Seoul: Samsung Economic Research Institute, 2001).
11. If that number were included, the unemployment rate in Korea would rise by at least 2%. Second, there is the retirement age factor. The retirement age for most positions in government and company is 55 to 60 years old, meaning that the unemployment rate in Korea would be much higher if these aging workers were not forced to retire five to seven years earlier than their counterparts in most other parts of the world. Third, a large number of Koreans work as unpaid laborers for family-run businesses. In fact, a study shows that 7.7% of the total labor force in Korea worked as unpaid laborers in 2003, which is significantly higher than the rates found in other countries - e.g., 5.1% in Japan, 0.9% in England, and 0.1% in the United States. See National Statistical Office, Employment Patterns, 2004. If these unpaid laborers were included in the calculation of the unemployment rate in Korea, the jobless rate would hover around 10%.
12. This does not mean that experienced workers of all ages are welcomed by these firms. A study of 200 firms in Seoul by the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training (KRIVET) shows that nearly two-thirds of the firms limited their hiring to those under the age of 38. See KRIVET, "Gieopche Junggoryeong Inryeokhwalyong Siltae" [Employment status of middle- and old-aged workers] (Seoul: KRIVET, 2004).
13. Ministry of Labor, Juyogieopdeului Chaeyongchui [Hiring trends of major employers] (Seoul: Ministry of Labor, 2003).
14. In addition to the term nonstandard, other terms in similar use include irregular, contingent, atypical, amorphous, and precarious.
15. A study by Yusun Kim, however, argues that the proportion of nonstandard workers in Korea is considerably higher than the official rate. Kim notes that the official total of regular workers actually includes hundreds of thousands of contract, part-time, and other contingent workers and that if they are properly classified, the proportion of nonstandard workers should be 58.4%. See Yusun Kim, "Bijeonggyujik Gyumowa Siltae" [The size and actual conditions of irregular work], research paper (Seoul: Korea Labor and Society Institute, 2003).
16. "Bijeonggyu Geunloja OECD 1wi" [Proportion of irregular workers is highest in Korea among OECD countries], Chosunilbo, April 3, 2001.
17. Ministry of Labor, 3.4bungi Hangukgoyongdonghyang [3rd and 4th quarter employment patterns in Korea in 2000] (Seoul: Ministry of Labor, 2001).
18. Korea Labor Institute, "2002nyeon Bijeonggyugeunloja Geunlosiltaejosa" [A 2002 survey of irregular workers and their working conditions], research paper (Seoul: Korea Labor Institute, 2003).
19. Yusun Kim, "Bijeonggyujik Gyumowa Siltae," p. 15.
20. Korea Labor Institute, "Gonggongbumun Bijeonggyujik Siltae mit Gaeseonbanghyang," 2004.
21. The disdain for work in Confucianism derives largely from its glorification of the pursuit of knowledge as the highest virtue of humanity. Manual labor is regarded as an unpleasant and demeaning activity that is incompatible with the development of the mind or cultural enrichment. See Andrew Eungi Kim, "Changes in the Perception of Work in Korea from the Late Nineteenth Century to the Late 1970s," Review of Korean Studies 8:1 (March 2005), pp. 131-54.
22. For example, the rate increased from 36% in 1964 to 39.3% in 1970, 42.8% in 1980, 47% in 1990, 48.4% in 1995, 48.6% in 2000, and 49.7% in 2002.
23. National Statistical Office, Labor Force Participation Rate by Gender (Seoul: National Statistical Office, 2003).
24. Ibid.
25. "Suchiro Bigyohaebon Segyesok Hankuk Yeoseong" [International statistical comparisons of Korean women], Donga Ilbo, March 7, 2002.
26. G. Yu, "Seongbyul Imgeumgyeokchaui Chaiwachabyeol" [Gender differences in earnings], research paper (Seoul: Korea Development Institute, 2002).
27. National Statistical Office, Statistics on Women (Seoul: National Statistical Office, 2004), p. 46.
28. Although the merit-based salary system is gaining more acceptance, the traditional seniority-based wage structure is still dominant.
29. Korea Employers Federation, "2002nyun Imgeumjojeongsiltaejosa" [A survey of salary adjustment in 2002], research paper (Seoul: Korea Employers Federation, 2002).
30. "Gujo Jojeong Jeunghugun" [Afterdownsizing desertification syndrome], Donga Ilbo, December 26, 1998.
31. "Jikjangin 80% 'Stress Jilbyeong Gyeongheom'" [80% of employees experience stress-related illnesses], Seoul Economic Daily, March 5, 2004.
32. "Jikjangin 71%, 'Sileopjadoel Ganeungseong Itda'" [71% of workers believe that they can get laid off], Hankyoreh, May 11, 2002.
33. "Gujikja 63% 'Chegam Jeongnyeoneun 40se Ijeon'" [63% of employees feel that they will retire before they turn forty], Segyeilbo [Segye News] (Seoul), December 17, 2003.
34. National Statistical Office, Social Statistics (Seoul: National Statistical Office, 1996).
35. Ibid., 2003.
36. Multinational companies stationed in Korea are also popular among aspiring workers, but for different reasons. The companies are admired in the belief that they offer better pay, a more relaxed company atmosphere, and more holidays, e.g., a majority of Korean companies have half-work days on Saturdays, while multinationals have them off.
37. H. Martin and H. Schumann, The Global Trap: Globalization and the Assault on Prosperity and Democracy (London: Zed Books, 1997).
38. National Statistical Office, 2003.
39. Hawjong Baek, Jongwook Won, Jeongwoo Lee, Taewan Kim, and Mungil Kim, "Gyeongjyeogun Byunhwaga Gukminyeongeumjedoe Michineun Pageuphyogwa Bunseok" [The impact of recent changes in economic condition on the National Pension Scheme], research paper (Seoul: Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, 2005), p. 64.
40. Ibid.
41. Y. Kim (2003), p. 19.
42. Ibid., p. 17.
43. "Daehaksaeng 3myeongjung 1myeongggol Hyuhak" [One in every three university students is on leave of absence], Hankyoreh, July 23, 2001
44. "Jinanhae Daehaksaeng 3myeongjung 1myeong Hyuhak" [One in every three university students took leave of absence last year], ibid., March 22, 2003.
45. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Statistics on Immigration (Seoul: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 1998, 2001-2003).
46. "Gujikja 90% 'Gihoedateumyeon Haeoechuieop'" [90% of jobseekers would go abroad if they had a chance], Hankyoreh, December 16, 2003.