• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.109-137
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• 2007

One of the key features of the Korean labor market is that, even though the central axis of employment has shifted from manufacturing sector to service sector, the ratio of part-time work is very low. Its major reasons are low wage rate, insufficient fringe benefits including social insurance, and deficient job security, even though part-time work has positive characteristics. This study examines whether part-time work would be a decent one and an alternative to full-time work by answering two questions: one is who chooses part-time work and another is whether part-time work is satisfactory. Analyses of 3,971 wage workers in the 8th wave of the Korea Labor and Income Panel Survey reveal that, as expected, part-time work is prevalent among the young, married women, and the old supporting the results from previous studies and that choosing part-time work on one's initiatives has a significant positive effect on job satisfaction for women while it is not for men. Form the result, it can be concluded that part-time work can be an appropriate alternative for full-time work if one chooses it voluntarily.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.139-175
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• 2013

This study analyzed differences and determinants of job satisfaction by employment type using the Korean Labor and Income Panel Data (KLIPS) (5th~13th) and obtained the following results. First, it was found that the job satisfaction of regular employees was significantly higher than that of non-regular employees and, as a result of analyzing job satisfaction by subdividing various types of employment within the non-regular employment category, 'temporary work' was found to have the highest satisfaction, while 'long-term non-regular work' had the lowest. Further, as a result of analyzing the differences in job satisfaction by the method of career choice, it was found that job satisfaction in the case of choosing a job voluntarily was higher than that in the case of choosing a job involuntarily. Second, as a result of analyzing the determinants of job satisfaction by employment type, all variables in regular employment were found to have statistically significant effects on job satisfaction, which is a dependant variable, whereas non-regular employment was found to have a limited effect only depending on the employment type. In case of the determinants of job satisfaction according to the method of career choice, they were found to have statistically significant effects on all variables except for the career variable in the group that chose employment voluntarily, whereas they were found to have significant effects on some variables only such as gender and wage, etc., in the group that chose employment involuntarily. Therefore, it is more suitable to analyze job satisfaction by subdividing it by employment type rather than dividing it into regular employment and non-regular employment, although the method of career choice (voluntary/involuntary) also needs to be considered.