The Estimated Size and Characteristics of Irregular Employment Work Force, and the Alternatives against Discrimination

비정규직 고용의 규모와 특성 그리고 정책대안의 방향

This article discusses the issues of the estimated size and characteristics of irregular employment work force in Korea after IMF economic crisis in 1997. The issues of the estimated size of irregular employment work force originated from different concepts and its operationalizations among the labor economists, despite their utilization of the same labor force data, 'Economically Active Population Survey(EAPA)' collected from Korea National Statistical Office(KNSO). And the issues contribute toward the understandings of the irregular employment and the limits of the EAPA, despite its various usefulness. This article also describes the summary characteristics of irregular employment work force from both sides of labor supply and its demand. The major characteristics of irregular employment work force on the labor supply side appears in the concentration of social minorities, i.e. woman, the aged, lower educated and skilled populations. On the labor demand of irregular employment work force, the majority of it concentrated on the establishments under 10 employees, and probably the important incentives for irregular employment work force of the firms is labor cost efficiency. Finally, this article propose an alternative against the discrimination between the regular and irregular work force.