• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.31-58
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• 2008

This study examines applying the elderly poverty labor hypothesis and skill-biased technological change hypothesis to labor force participation rate(LFPR) of older males in Korea. These hypotheses have hardly been examined on the this group. The analysis is based on the data "Summary of economically active population($1965{\sim}2007$)", "Population projection($1965{\sim}2007$)", "Report on wage structure survey($1993{\sim}2005$)" and "Korea Labor and Income Panel Study($1998{\sim}2006$)". The method employed for this study is logistic regression. The main results from this analysis are summarized in five points. Firstly, Korean older males' LFPR have been increasing since 1965 when industrialization was expanding at full steam. This trend has been different from the decreasing trend of industrialized countries. The second finding is that poor older males' LFPR is, on the average, 5.2% higher than that of non-poor older males from 1998 to 2005. The third result is that the non-elderly man has been increasingly positioned at higher grade occupations, while the elderly man has been held at lower grade occupations. The fourth is that labor demand for highly educated workers has exceeded the increased labor supply of the group, while the demand for low educated workers has decreased far beyond the declined labor supply. As a result, college premium has increased from 139% in 1993 to 157.8% in 2005. The final main implication of this study is that the industrialization theory and modernization hypothesis still holds for the LFPR of Korean older males. However, the elderly affluence hypothesis of the LFPR of older males are hardly persuasive in explaining Korean phenomenon. Especially, we find that the elderly poverty is the main mechanism in determining the Korean LFPR in old ages. This supports the elderly poverty labor hypothesis presented in this study. Skill-biased technological change hypothesis partially explains the LFPR of older man. However, we believe that other factors; human capital specially high school education rather than university education and skill required in less skill biased occupations or the poverty; also have taken effect.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.65 no.3
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• pp.183-206
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• 2013

Using Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (wave 1~11) database, this study analyzed the poverty duration of the poor as a whole and by households' characteristics. For this purpose, I first estimated poverty exit rates and reentry rates applying discrete-time hazard model to the sample, and then calculated poverty duration combining these two probability rates. The results show that about a half of poor households are transitory (short-term) poor with 1~2 years of poverty duration. A quarter is chronic (long-term) poor lasting for 5 or more years of poverty duration. The remained quarter can be categorized as the recurrent or mid-term poor. The socioeconomic characteristics of households greatly affect poverty duration. Long-term poverty is prevalent among female-head households, elderly households, single households, or households headed by a person with a lower level of education. If households' heads do not work, or work as temporary or daily-employed workers, the poverty duration tends to be longer. The findings suggest that the poor consist of various social classes with different characteristics. Efficient anti-poverty policy should be based on thoroughly identifying the specific characteristics and needs of each class.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.911-931
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• 2010

This study was conducted with objectives to assess consumption structure of the elderly households in Korea, focusing on the difference of consumption structure depending on the poverty status and family type. The results of this study show that the poor elderly households have primarily consumed the necessary goods for health care, food, clothing, and shelter. Especially, the poor single elderly living alone and married couples living independently(or alone) have been in the serious unbalanced consumption status. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that the support schemes to help the consumption of necessary goods should be introduced to improve their economic well-being. The support schemes to promote their social role as consumers should be also introduced.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.236-245
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• 2013

This study analyzed the relationship between elderly suicide rates and socio-economic factors from the macroscopic perspectives. As certain theoretical background of elderly suicide, sociological and economic perspectives are applied. The economic factors of elderly suicide rates consisted of economic growth and unemployment rate, economic activity rate of the aged, and relative poverty rate (income inequality rate). The sociological factors included social welfare spending, divorce rate, growth rate of population aging, and elderly dependency ratio. According to research findings, first, the more economic activity of the aged is low, the more elderly suicide rate is high. Second, the more social welfare spending rate goes flat, the more elderly suicide rate is growing. Third, the more relative poverty rate (income inequality), increasing population aging rate, and elderly dependency ratio are high, elderly suicide rate goes high at the same time. Finally, this study proposed several socio-economic policy alternatives for preventing continuous growth of Korean elderly suicide rate.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.271-297
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• 2005

Since the 1980s, the western welfare states have experienced a wide spectrum of socio-economic changes; changes in population composition, the economic globalization, the post-industrialization, an increasing flexibility in the labor market. etc. This study examines the trend of poverty in welfare states, and analyzes how those socio-economic changes are related to it. For these purposes, this study first calculates the poverty indices for several years in 10 welfare states using the Luxembourg Income Study database, and then decomposes the index by subpopulation and income sources. Major findings of this study can be summarized as follows. First of all, the welfare state in general has experienced an increasing trend in the degree of poverty since the 1980s. In particular, poverty has greatly intensified in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Many other welfare states including Canada, Germany, Sweden, and Norway have also experienced substantial increases in poverty. The increasing trend of poverty is not wholly due to changes in population composition such as increases in the aging population and one-parent(mother) families. Contrary to the traditional belief, these population groups are not as much poor as the working-age population. In particular, the degree of poverty in the elderly is less severe than in the working-age group. Furthermore, since the 1980s the market income poverty in the aging population has shown a decreasing trend in many welfare states. The degree and trend of poverty in one-parent families vary greatly across countries, owing to the labor market and income transfer policies. The most important reason for the increasing poverty trend in the welfare state is that the degree of poverty has been deepening in the working-age population. Especially, the market income poverty of the working-age population has considerably increased in every country except the Netherlands. Structural changes in the economy and the labor market may drive the increasing trend of poverty. Further studies and deliberate anti-poverty policies are needed to tackle the factors relating to the increase in the market income poverty.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.71-130
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• 2008

Using data from the Korean Labor & Income Panel Study (KLIPS), this study investigates private income transfers in Korea, where adult children have undertaken the most responsibility of supporting their elderly parents without well-established social safety net for the elderly. According to the KLIPS data, three out of five households provided some type of support for their aged parents and two out of five households of the elderly received financial support from their adult children on a regular base. However, the private income transfers in Korea are not enough to alleviate the impact of the fall in the earned income of those who retired and are approaching an age of needing financial assistance from external source. The monthly income of those at least the age of 75, even with the earning of their spouses, is below the staggering amount of 450,000 won, which indicates that the elderly in Korea are at high risk of poverty. In order to analyze microeconomic factors affecting the private income transfers to the elderly parents, the following three samples extracted from the KLIPS data are used: a sample of respondents of age 50 or older with detailed information on their financial status; a five-year household panel sample in which their unobserved family-specific and time-invariant characteristics can be controlled by the fixed-effects model; and a sample of the younger split-off household in which characteristics of both the elderly household and their adult children household can be controlled simultaneously. The results of estimating private income transfer models using these samples can be summarized as follows. First, the dominant motive lies on the children-to-parent altruistic relationship. Additionally, another is based on exchange motive, which is paid to the elderly parents who take care of their grandchildren. Second, the amount of private income transfers has negative correlation with the income of the elderly parents, while being positively correlated with the income of the adult children. However, its income elasticity is not that high. Third, the amount of private income transfers shows a pattern of reaching the highest level when the elderly parents are in the age of 75 years old, following a decreasing pattern thereafter. Fourth, public assistance, such as the National Basic Livelihood Security benefit, appears to crowd out private transfers. Private transfers have fared better than public transfers in alleviating elderly poverty, but the role of public transfers has been increasing rapidly since the welfare expansion after the financial crisis in the late 1990s, so that one of four elderly people depends on public transfers as their main income source in 2003. As of the same year, however, there existed and occupied 12% of the elderly households those who seemed eligible for the National Basic Livelihood benefit but did not receive any public assistance. To remove elderly poverty, government may need to improve welfare delivery system as well as to increase welfare budget for the poor. In the face of persistent elderly poverty and increasing demand for public support for the elderly, which will lead to increasing government debt, welfare policy needs targeting toward the neediest rather than expanding universal benefits that have less effect of income redistribution and heavier cost. Identifying every disadvantaged elderly in dire need for economic support and providing them with the basic livelihood security would be the most important and imminent responsibility that we all should assume to prepare for the growing aged population, and this also should accompany measures to utilize the elderly workforce with enough capability and strong will to work.

• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.111-127
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• 2011

The study aims to analyse whether Korea and Taiwan have reduced the elderly poverty effectively through income transfer system in a comparative perspective. It covers 12 Western welfare states and 2 East Asian welfare states(korea and Taiwan). Utilising Luxembourg Income Study(LIS) datasets, empirical analyses focus on old-age income mix and poverty reduction effects of income transfer. Major findings are as follows. Frist, whilst public transfer income takes a major part in old-age income mix in Western welfare states, Korea and Taiwan reveal genuine mixed states - i.e., the relative proportion of private transfers and market income are high. Secondly, public transfers have effectively reduced the old-age poverty in Western welfare state. However, thirdly, those effects are still limited in Korea and Taiwan. Rather, the poverty reduction effects of private transfers are relatively high. Based on the empirical findings, the study suggests future research agendas and policy implications.

• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.321-341
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to examine income composition elements, poverty rate, and the effects of the transfer income on poverty decrease comparing grandparents-grandchildren households with living alone, couple, and living with adulthood children. Data come from the first(2005) and the second(2007) Korean Retirement and Income Study(KReIS) and the effects of poverty decrease is examined through reconstruction of LIS income definition. The main findings are as follows. First, the total income of the grandparents-grandchildren in 2006 is the lowest and about one-fourth of the households living with adulthood children. Second, the labor income of all households are increasing but the only grandparents-grandchildren's labor income is decreasing. Third, three of ten in grandparents- grandchildren households are in poverty, the poorest households's type is the grandparents-grandchildren in 2006. Fourth, four of ten in grandparents-grandchildren is able to escape poverty after including private and public transfer income. Especially, the effects of the public transfer income in grandparents-grandchildren households is lower in 2006 than in 2004, thus the role of public income security is strongly needed. Existing research was that the poorest type among the elderly group was the living-alone households, but this results show that grandparents -grandchildren households are the poorest group. Thus, income security policy is highly needed for poor skipped-generation households.

• 한국노년학
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.941-954
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of depression and its' correlates among elderly people(young-old vs old-old) with poverty. Methods: The sample was 434 of young-old elderly and 209 of old-old elderly people who were 60 and over and basic livelihood recipient in Korean urban community. Depression was measured by Geriatric Depression Scale by Yesavage et al.(1983) in Korean Version. Results: The prevalence of depression was greater for old-old people(63.2%) compared to young-old people(53.9%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis shows the difference of correlates of depression between young-old and old-old elderly people. Prevalence of depression in young-old people was associated with renting in housing type; bad self-rated health status; lack of regular leisure activity; lack of regular eating habit, whereas old-old people was affected by lower social support; moderate or bad self-rated health status; lack of regular leisure activity Conclusion: The finding of differences in prevalence of depression and its' correlates between young-old and old-old people is expected to promote the screening strategy for elderly at risk of depression in Korean community elderly with poverty.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.50
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• pp.61-85
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• 2002

Using the 2001 Family Income and Expenditure Survey micro-data, this study analyses the anti-poverty effectiveness of public and private income transfers. In this study, the anti-poverty effectiveness of income transfers is summarized in two ways; 1) the poverty reduction effect of the income transfers, and 2) the poverty reduction efficiency of the income transfers. The poverty reduction effects are measured with several poverty indices including the head-count ratio, poverty gap, and Sen index. Using Beckerman's model, this study also analyses the poverty reduction efficiency of income transfers. This analysis documents substantial differences in the anti-poverty effectiveness of public and private income transfers. Although the private income transfers contribute more to reduce the head-count poverty ratio and Sen index than public income transfers, their differences are significantly reduced after the enactment of National Basic Livelihood Security Act. The results also reveal that the anti-poverty effectiveness of public and private income transfers vary by the types of families. In families headed by elderly and working aged, private income transfers have more anti-poverty effectiveness. But, public income transfers contribute more to reduce poverty than private income transfers among families headed by single adults with children. The results of this study suggest that recent changes in anti-poverty policies in Korea have been strengthened the Government's responsibility. And more importantly, to effectively reduce poverty among the poor families, anti-poverty polices must be designed to consider different family types.