• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.242-261
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• 2017

The purposes of this research are to explore factors that affect re-employment revitalization of the semi-aged workers and to seek practical and specific improvement plans to activate the semi-aged worker's re-employment. For the purposes of this research, face to face interviews were conducted between March 18th and April 10th, 2016 among 375 semi-aged who are currently searching for a job or re-employed among the semi-aged between 50 and 64 years old and reside in Daegu Metropolitan City. According to logistic regression analysis, sex, subjective health condition, working period, and information supply have statistically significant positive impacts on re-employment of the semi-aged workers. On the other hand, simple labor work and seeking job period have statistically significant negative impacts on re-employment of the semi-aged workers. Finally, policy implications for the improvement of re-employment of the semi-aged workers were introduced and discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.337-357
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• 2008

This study examines the characteristics of population ageing and the employment of aged workers in Seoul. Population indexes such as aged/child ratio and longevity degree are analyzed to identify the time-spatial changes and differentiation of population ageing by Gu. Job offerers, job seekers and employees related to the aged workers are also analyzed using data from Center of Job Placement for the Aged in Seoul. The results indicate that population ageing of Seoul has progressed faster than other regions in recent years. In addition, regional differences in tendency of population ageing is obvious even within Seoul. The percentage of unskilled laborer is much higher in Seoul compared with other regions. There is geographical differentiation in employment of aged workers among regions within Seoul. The employment opportunity of the aged is high in core economic areas of Seoul, while low in the outer residential area. This shows geographical mismatch between job offerers and seekers, which means that it is difficult for aged workers to get the jobs near to their residence. Accordingly, governmental support and intervention is needed considering their lower mobility.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.476-482
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• 2023

Introduction: There is a growing global interest in the issue of precarious employment. We aimed to analyze the characteristics and socio-demographic distribution of precarious employment using a summative score approach. Methods: To operationalize precarious employment, we utilized data from the Korean Working Conditions Survey and focused on three distinct dimensions: employment insecurity, income inadequacy, and a lack of rights and protections. By constructing a summative scale ranging from -16 to 2, with lower scores indicating higher precariousness, we measured employment precariousness among Korean wage workers. To compare employment precariousness according to survey participant characteristics, we employed the Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test. Results: We analyzed a weighted number of 38,432 workers. The overall sample showed a median (Q1, Q3) summative scale score of -3 (-6, -1). The median summative score was lower for women compared to men (men: -2; women: -5; p < 0.001), as well as for young or older workers compared to middle-aged workers (young: -4; middle-aged: -2; older: -5; p < 0.001). Similarly, workers with lower educational levels (middle school or below: -8; high school: -5; college or above: -2; p < 0.001) and non-white collar workers (blue collar: -5; service/sales worker: -6; white collar: -2; p < 0.001) experienced higher levels of employment precariousness. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that certain vulnerable groups, such as women, young or older adults, workers with low educational attainment, and caregiving or low-skilled elementary workers, are disproportionately exposed to high employment precariousness. Active policy interventions are needed to improve the employment quality of vulnerable groups.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.158-163
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• 2024

Objectives: The present paper aimed to examine whether an aging workforce is associated with an increase in work-related fatal injuries and to explore the underlying reasons for this potential increase. Material and methods: Aged workers were defined as those who were at least 55 years old. Work-related fatalities were assessed in aged and young workers who were registered with the workers' compensation system in 2021 in the Republic of Korea. Total waged workers, based on raw data from the Local Area Labor Force Survey in 2021, were used as the denominator to estimate the work-related fatality rates. Results: Most work-related fatalities in the aged workers occurred among individuals working in the "construction sector" (58.9%), those with "elementary occupations (unskilled workers)" (46.1%), and those with the employment status of "daily worker" (60.8%). The estimated incidence (0.973/10,000) of work-related fatalities among aged workers was about four times higher than that (0.239/10,000) among younger workers. "Falling," "collision," "struck by an object," and "trip and slip" were more frequent types of work-related fatalities among aged workers relative to young workers. The category of "buildings, structures, and surfaces" was a more frequent cause of work-related fatalities among aged workers than among young workers. Conclusions: Aged workers had a higher incidence of work-related fatalities than young workers. Frequent engagement in precarious employment and jobs, coupled with the greater physical vulnerability of aged workers, were likely causes of their higher level of work-related fatal injuries.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.108-113
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• 2021

Background: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between changes in employment status and new-onset depressive symptoms through a one-year follow-up of permanent waged workers. Methods: We analyzed the open-source data from the Korea Welfare Panel Study. Using the 2017 data, we selected 2,314 permanent waged workers aged 19 to 59 years without depressive symptoms as a base group. The final analysis targeted 2,073 workers who were followed up in 2018. In 2018, there were five categories of employment status for workers who were followed up: permanent, precarious, unemployed, self-employed, and economically inactive. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine the association between employment status change and new-onset depressive symptoms. Results: Adjusted multiple logistic regression analysis showed that among male workers, workers who went from permanent status to being unemployed (odds ratio: 4.50, 95% confidence interval: 1.19 to 17.06) and from permanent status to being precarious workers (odds ratio: 3.15, 95% confidence interval: 1.30 to 7.65) had significantly high levels of new-onset depressive symptoms compared with those who retained their permanent employment status. There were no significant increases in new-onset depressive symptoms of male workers who went from permanent status to being self-employed or economically inactive. On the other hand, no significant differences were found among female workers. Conclusion: Our study suggests that the change of employment status to precarious workers or unemployment can cause new-onset depressive symptoms in male permanent waged workers.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.408-421
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• 2019

Objectives: This study compared the dietary behaviors of single-person households when eating alone according to the employment pattern and age. Methods: A total of 566 people aged 20~59 years old were collected from the status of workers and classified into three groups according to their employment pattern (regular, non-regular workers and business owner). The subjects were collected by purposive quota sampling on a Gallup panel from June to November in 2017. The dietary behavior and perception of eating alone of the subjects were surveyed via online and self-reported questionnaires. Results: The frequency of eating alone was significantly higher in the regular group than the non-regular group and business group (p<0.01). The place of eating alone was significantly higher in the regular and non-regular group in the convenience store, and business group in the office (p<0.001). Ramen, the menu when eating alone, was significantly higher in the non-regular group than the other groups (p<0.01). The preference for eating alone was lower in the older age group (p<0.05). The young aged group (aged 20~30) ate more fast food and felt more convenience than the older aged group aged 40~50 years (p<0.05). Conclusions: Single-person households with a non-regular job have poorer dietary behavior in eating alone than those who had regular employment. In a situation of an increasing number of non-regular workers aged in their 20s and 30s, there is a high likelihood of social problems, such as health and poverty. This study highlights the need for a healthy food selection environment to improve the dietary life of single-person households with non-regular jobs for the diverse types of single-person households.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.55-88
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• 2012

This article investigates the patterns of workforce aging in each industry, and examines how changing industrial structure affected the labor-market demand for and employment security of older workers in Korea. The relative size of the industries that are major employers of older workers has relatively declined since 2001, resulting in a decrease in labor-market demand for aged persons. Changes in industrial structure that occurred during the last decade have also brought an overall deterioration in the extent of employment security of older workers. These results suggest that the economic environment surrounding policies aimed at encouraging the employment of older workers is not entirely favorable. This paper also points out that policy makers need to consider that employment conditions of older workers are highly heterogenous across industries.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.184-191
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• 2018

Background: Due to an increasing number of workers aged 50 years and above, the number of those employed is also on the rise, and those workers aged 50 and over has exceeded 50% of the total fatal occupational injuries. Therefore, it is necessary to implement the selection and concentration by identifying the characteristics of high-risk groups necessary for an effective prevention against and reduction of fatal occupational injuries. Methods: This study analyzed the characteristics of high-risk groups and the occupational injury fatality rate per 10,000 workers among the workers aged 50 and over through a multi-dimensional analysis by sex, employment status of workers, industry and occupation by targeting 4,079 persons who died in fatal occupational injuries from January 2007 to December 12. Results: The share of the workers aged 50 years and above is increasing every year in the total fatal occupational injuries occurrence, and the high-risk groups include 'male workers' by sex, 'daily workers' by worker's status, 'craft and related-trades workers' by occupation, and 'mining' by industry. Conclusion: The most frequent causal objects of fatal occupational injuries of the workers aged 50 years and above are found out to be 'installment and dismantlement of temporary equipment and material on work platforms including scaffold' in the construction industry and 'mobile crane, conveyor belt and fork lifts' in the manufacturing industry.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.102-107
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• 2022

South Korea will soon be a super-aged society, as more than 20.6% of its population will be 65 years and older by 2025. As of 2022, 17.5% of the total population in South Korea is 65 years and older, which exceeds the set threshold for an aged society, where more than 14% of the population is 65 years and older. The proportion of older subway construction workers has increased. Aging workers and their work stress negatively impact their workability. A previous study demonstrated that the stress index measured using the uBioMacpa measurement device (Macpa stress index) had a significant correlation with work stress in South Korea. The device tests vascular health and measures stress levels via Macpa signal analysis. In this study, the pulse waves of subway construction workers were measured using uBioMacpa to identify their stress levels. The stress levels were analyzed by age, years of service, job position, employment type, and work type. Herein, these statistics could not be easily represented by a normal distribution; therefore, the Kruskal-Wallis test, a nonparametric statistical method, was used for the analysis of data. The results showed that age, job position, employment type, and working type affected the Macpa stress index and the stress levels of workers increased with age. In terms of job position, technical engineers were more stressed than other workers because of their poor working environment. In terms of employment type, daily-wage workers were more stressed than other workers. In terms of working type, tunneling, waterproofing, and construction scored the highest Macpa stress indexes without any significant difference, whereas earthworks scored the lowest. Based on the analysis of Macpa stress index, safety and health management plans were proposed to reduce the stress levels of workers. Moreover, a manual for efficient stress management must be developed for subway construction workers.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.85-110
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• 2009

The aim of this study was to examine whether health status is different according to employment status and income level in wage-earners. We analyzed wage-earners of 2199 men and 1194 women aged 30-64 years, using data from the 2006 Korean Labor and Income Panel Study(KLIPS). The difference of health status according to employment status and income level was compared with the multiple logistic regression and the standardized concentration index of ill-health. The risk of ill-health was high when waged-earners had low income. The same is true for poor employment status when their employment status was unstable as in manual laborers, irregular workers, temporary, daily workers or part-time workers. furthermore, the wage-earners with lower income and a relatively disadvantageous employment status showed the lowest health status compared to other groups. Ill-health was relatively more concentrated in lower income group and poor employment status. This study identified the existence of health inequality among various employment status of wage-earners. It is suggested that policies that deal with the inequality in social class may have an important impact on the health of the population.