• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.45
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• pp.72-100
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• 2001

Despite the rapid expansion of social security coverage in the 1990s, many wage earners in Korea, especially the majority of the nonstandard workforce are excluded in the social insurance programs. In this regards, the purpose of this paper is to analyze causes of the exclusion of nonstandard workers to the social insurance scheme and to suggest the feasible policy options. Through this paper, four arguments are addressed as follows. First, the main issue for exclusion from coverage of those workers is that they have no entitlement to social insurance. This is not an issue of that they fall below hours or income thresholds for the entitlement Second, the top-down process of the extension in the Korean social insurances have divided the wage earners into two groups, the insider (the included) and the outsider (the excluded). Many nonstandard workers belong to the latter category. Third, the social insurance systems have been designed for the regular workers who were characterized by a full-time with some degree of stability. Reform designed to cope with the growth of nonstandard workers must build on the existing structure of social insurance. Finally, the governance capacity by social security administration body must be improved in order to provide a basic social protection for those workers. For that, four separated social insurance administration bodies could be unified to one administrative body, or tax and contribution of social insurance could be collected by one integrated administration body, the National Tax Service.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.49-77
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• 2016

The aim of this study is to reveal errors in the estimations on the nonstandard workers scale which have resulted from little consideration for bogus self-employment. Bogus self-employment means disguised employment relationships that are considered to be self-employed workers even though they have inherent subordination. The methods of previous studies estimate that the bogus self-employed workers are excluded from estimations because they are not workers in principle. We analyze the scale of the bogus self-employments using the empirical data [the Korean Welfare Panel of 2008-2013(six wave panel)] to re-estimate the scale of non-standard workers. In 2013, the year of the last wave, the percentage of the bogus self-employment was high, the proportion of them is 28.5% among self-employment without owning a place of business. Our results expect the number of contract workers from re-analysis would be over 740 thousand when reflecting on the predictive value in the actual number of paid workers. In conclusion, it is necessary to apply reasonable methods of analysis concerning the scope and scale of the nonstandard workers for the sake of coping with measures against the problem of nonstandard workers. The aim of this study is to reveal the estimation error on nonstandard workers' scale which are resulted from having no consideration for bogus self-employment. Bogus self-employment means disguised employment relationship that is considered as self-employment workers even though they have inherent subordination. The methods of previous researches' estimation on nonstandard workers have the problem that the bogus self-employment workers are excluded from estimation because they are not workers in principle.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.337-344
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• 2005

Objectives : Job insecurity, such as non-standard work, is reported to have an adverse impact on health, regardless of health behaviors. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between non-standard employment and health in Korea. Methods : We analyzed a representative weighted sample, which consisted of 2,112 men and 1,237 women, aged 15-64, from the 1998 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Non-standard employment included part-time permanent, short time temporary and daily workers. Self-reported health was used as a health indicator. Results : This study indicated that women were more likely to report poorer health than men with standard jobs. Of all employees, 20.3% were female manual workers. After adjusting for potential confounders, such as age, education, equivalent income, marital, social and self-reported economic status and health behavior factors, nonstandard employment was found to be significantly associated with poor health among female manual workers (OR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.24 to 2.79). No significant association was found in other working groups Conclusions : Among female manual workers, nonstandard employees reported significantly poorer health compared with standard workers. This result raises concern as there are increasing numbers of non-standard workers, particularly females.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.251-253
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• 2019

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.31 no.spc
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• pp.525-533
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• 2020

Purpose: Workers in special employment relationship (WSERs) are workers in nonstandard employment arrangements who lack worker protection accorded in standard employment arrangements. This study aimed to describe self-rated health (SRH) and depressive symptoms (DS) among Korean WSERs in comparison to regular wage workers (RWW) and identify associations between working conditions and those outcomes. Methods: In this study, secondary data analysis using the 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey was used. The sample totaled 29,120, including 1,538 WSERs and 27,564 RWWs. Sociodemographic and work-related characteristics were employed as explanatory variables and SRH and DS as dependent variables. Using multiple logistic regression, the determinants of fair/poor SRH and DS were identified. Results: The prevalence rates for fair/poor SRH and DS in WSERs were 25.2% and 28.3%, respectively, and 20.7% and 25.0% in RWWs, respectively. Compared to RWWs, WSERs had 31% (aOR=1.31, 95% CI=1.14~1.49) and 20% (aOR=1.20, 95% CI=1.06~1.36) higher odds of SRH and DS, respectively. Some factors, such as a lack of rest guarantee and sickness presenteeism, had a larger influence in the WSER than in the RWW group. Conclusion: Compared to RWWs, WSERs reported having poorer working conditions and were more likely to report poor general and mental health. Therefore, in Korea, public health policymakers should consider measures to protect the working conditions and health of WSERs, a growing segment of the working population. The study produced new epidemiological evidence regarding the relationships between employment arrangements and health.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.199-221
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• 2007

This study examines the conditions and causes of income inequality and seeks assignments for mitigating income inequality. An analysis of the conditions and causes of income inequality is summarized as follows. First, income inequality, which rapidly increased after the economic crisis, increased and reduced repeatedly during 1999-2004, and remained a level in 2005 as high as that of the year directly after the economic crisis. Second, an analysis of the causes of income inequality by utilizing the long-term data(1985-2004) shows that unemployment rate, nonstandard employment rate, and the rising rate of land prices positively affect income inequality. Third, an analysis of the causes of income inequality by utilizing the data before and after the economic crisis(1995-2004) demonstrates that unemployment rate, nonstandard employment rate, and the workers' income ratio between large enterprises and small enterprises positively affect income inequality. Fourth, the rising rate of land prices which significantly affects income inequality in the data of 1985-2004 does not affect income equality in the data of 1995-2004, and the workers' income ratio between large enterprises and small enterprises which does not affect income inequality in the data of 1985-2004 significantly affect income equality in the data of 1995-2004. These results suggest several implications for mitigating income inequality. First, alternative plans to reduce unemployment rate must be prepared. Second, policies to reduce nonstandard employment rate should be established. Third, programs to stabilize or lower the land prices must be deliberated. Fourth, a master-plan to support small to medium enterprises must be carried out in order to reduce the wage differentials between large enterprises and small to medium enterprises.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.79-108
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• 2017

Using data sets from the Korean Labour and Income Panel Study (KLIPS) for the period 2003-2015, this study shows that wages of nonunion workers are positively related to the percentage of unionized workers in the same geographic region. A 10 percentage point increase in a region's union density is associated with a 4.9 percent increase in the region's average wage of nonunion workers. It is also shown that this positive spillover effect is observed for various subgroups of nonunion workers, including women, youth, low-educated workers, small firm employees, and those employed under nonstandard work arrangements. In contrast, the average wage of union workers is found to respond insignificantly to changes in a region's union density.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.400-408
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• 2019

The "fourth industrial revolution" (FIR) is an age of advanced technology based on information and communication. FIR has a more powerful impact on the economy than in the past. However, the prospects for the labor environment are uncertain. The purpose of this study is to anticipate and prepare for occupational health and safety (OHS) issues. In FIR, nonstandard employment will be common. As a result, it is difficult to receive OHS services and compensation. Excessive trust in new technologies can lead to large-scale or new forms of accidents. Global business networks will cause destruction of workers' biorhythms, some cancers, overwork, and task complexity. The social disconnection because of an independent work will be a risk for worker's mental health. The union bonds will weaken, and it will be difficult to apply standardized OHS regulations to multinational enterprises. To cope with the new OHS issues, we need to establish new concepts of "decent work" and standardize regulations, which apply to enterprises in each country, develop public health as an OHS service, monitor emerging OHS events and networks among independent workers, and nurture experts who are responsible for new OHS issues.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.52
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• pp.201-221
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• 2003

This paper aims to examine whether there are significant differences in various aspects of a household's arrangements by type of employment of married woman; 1) the extent of the division of labor, 2) the authority of decision making, and 3) financial and expenditure responsibilities. It also investigates the determinants of gender equality in the family. Based on data collected in the fall of 2002 from a representative sample of the Korean population, this study finds that nonstandard employment of married woman including temporary work and daily basis work does not contribute to gender equality within the household, although most of nonstandard employees are full-time workers. However, standard employment of married woman contribute to gender equality in the family. The results of this study show that husbands whose wives are standard-employed are more likely to take part in housework chores that are female-dominated, and standardly employed wives are more likely than non-standardly employed or housewives to take part in the household's financial and expenditure responsibilities. Standardly employed wives also have more power in decision making process within households. On the contrary, non-standardly employed wives gain no advantage over housewives within their families, due to lack of bargaining resources that enable them to affect the household's arrangements. Thus, they have confronted additional burdens, which stem from carrying the dual role of doing house work as well as paid work. Such increasing work-family conflict may bring about disruption of family. Therefore, this study maintains that it is high time that government-level efforts should be made in order to improve the status of irregularly employed wives in the workplace.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.95-136
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• 2018

As the number of precariats grows, their poor labor rights and working conditions are becoming issues of major concern all over the world but how to represent their interests is still controversial. Basically, the union is the institutional mechanism for representing the labor rights. However, it is difficult for workplaceand enterprise-based unions to fully represent the labor rights of precarious workers. Recently, so-called community unions have emerged in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan as independent organizations representing the rights of non-standard workers. Community unions refer to labor unions which organize precarious workers across firms at the regional level. They are known to be suitable for covering the unemployed, job seekers, indirect employment workers, short-term contract workers, and small-firm workers. In South Korea, since the financial crisis in 1997, a dramatic increase in the number of precariats leads to emergence of new types of trade unions such as the Youth Community Union, the Arbeit Workers' Union, the Artist Social Union and the Korea Musician's Union. They have engaged in various activities to guarantee the labor rights of precariats. Recently, researchers have also tried to identify defining characteristics of these new forms of unionism. To expand research on trade unionism in South Korea, this study compares two different types of community unions: the Youth Community Union and the Arbeit Workers' Union. We believe that this attempt can contribute to the research on the alternative labor movement. For this purpose, this study starts with theoretical discussions on community unions, and compares the Youth Community Union with the Arbeit Workers' Union based on the five characteristics of community unionism: membership and organization structure, the recognition struggle, the type or scope of interest, solidarity with other civic organizations, and the repertoire of resistance strategies. Based on this comparative analysis, this study seeks to foresee the possibility of how community unionism will develop in South Korean in the future.