• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.261-293
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• 2013

Sweden invited immigrant workers, mainly from Nordic countries and West European countries until the 1960s. But since the 1970s refugees and their family members have become the largest group of immigrants. As the composition of immigrants has changed significantly, and the labor market conditions have been aggravated, immigrants have had much difficulty in finding jobs. This has aroused policy debates concerning the reason why the immigrants are not well integrated into the labor market and how to solve the problem. While there is a broad consensus on micro reform policy alternatives, there are significant opinion gaps concerning major issues such as labor market flexibilization and immigration restrictions. It would seems that the poor results of immigrants' labor market integration may increase the pressure for labor market flexibilization and also bring about significant changes to the Swedish welfare state model designed on the premise of full employment.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 2016

This study evaluates the strategic capacity of Korean labor union movement by examining policy alternatives and strategic steps that the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions have shown in response to Park Geun-Hye government's labor market structuring policies. While the government-led labor reform was carried out as intended, organized labor has not simply failed to achieve progressive labor reforms to enhance employment security, but also to exert their strategic capacity effectively for preventing Park's labor market flexibilization policies. The two national centers have not been able to exert their strategic capacity (such as intermediating, framing, articulating, learning) for mobilizing the resources of internal solidarity, network embeddedness, narrative discourse, and organizational infrastructure. In particular, the formation and diffusion of public discourse is a significant part of strategic capacity of labor unions dealing with the labor politics of labor market restructuring, since organized labor, which is under the unfavorable constraints of limited movement resources and power imbalance with the business circle, needs to mobilize massive support and participation from union members and civil society organizations. In this light, it becomes of more importance for labor union movement to exert their strategic capacity toward internal solidarity and network embeddedness in the stage of labor market reforms. Under the recent stage of labor reforms, however, the labor unions has not harnessed their movement resources effectively, but undertaken their protest in a traditional manner, thereby losing its public efficacy from inside and outside. Moreover, it is necessary to build and activate the network of organic solidarity among organized labor, civil society organizations and progressive political parties, in order to cope with the pro-business coalition of power elites for accomplishing pro-labor reforms.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.281-304
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• 2018

This paper aims at analysing what impacts the experience of self-employed business have had on the income mobility. Since 2000s, the flexibilization of labor market and the population aging led to the increase of the number of self-employed job as many retirees at the age of early 50s has set up the self-employed business as a bridge job. However, previous researches just have emphasized on the impoverishment of the self-employed, but not focused on what different effects the experience of self-employed had on the income class mobility by age group. This paper compares the difference in the income class mobility by age group and employment status, and analyses its longitudinal trends. According to the result, as a whole the experience of self-employed has positive effect on the upper mobility of income class, but it become disadvantageous for the upper mobility as the age goes up. When belonging to the age group over 60s, the experience of self-employed rather increases the risk of lowering income class. Just as the experience of self-employed has different effects on income class mobility by age group, so the differentiated measures for age groups are demanded.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.297-323
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• 2011

Part-time jobs in Sweden are highly feminized yet are in fair conditions in terms of job security, earnings, and collective representation. Three points are considered to be important to understand why part-time work in Sweden carries such positive characteristics. First, the part-time work in Sweden is widely spread not as a result of employers' need for labor flexibilization but as means to enhance the work-life balance, a value pursued within a broader social policy package to change the breadwinner model. Second, discrimination against part-time workers is restrained in Sweden because the boundary between part-time and full-time is not conspicuous. Most of part-time jobs are occupied by regular workers who exert the right to part-time work, hence may go back to the full-time status any time. Third, the regulation on overtime work of part-time workers as well as full-time workers is strong. It is largely agreed among researchers that part-time work contributed greatly to an increase of female employment rate in Sweden. Since the 1970s, the increased availability of part-time jobs induced married women who used to be economically inactive to the labor market and maintained them to be economically active throughout the child rearing period. From the gender perspective, one may still raise issues regarding part-time work in Sweden such as persistent feminization and strong occupational sex segregation. However, the observed trend shows that the part-time work in Sweden has functioned more as a stepping stone to the full-time work for women than as a women's trap.