Activating Women in the Labor Market: The Development of South Korea's Female-Friendly Employment and Labor Market Policies

• Published in: Korea observer Vol. 47; no. 3; pp. 559 - 596
• Main Author: Song, Jiyeoun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul Institute of Korean Studies 01.09.2016; 한국학술연구원
• Subjects: Affirmative action; Ageing; Aging; Careers; Development strategies; Economic conditions; Economic development; Economic growth; Economic models; Educational attainment; Employment; Family leave; Female employees; Females; Fertility; Flexibility; Flexible hours; Gender pay gap; Government; Government employees; Hours of work; Korean language; Labor force; Labor force participation; Labor market; Labor shortages; Labour force; Labour market; Level of education; Older people; Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development; Part time employment; Participation; Policy making; Population; Quality; Society; Sociodemographics; South Korea; Wages & salaries; Welfare; Women; Womens employment; Work; Working hours; 정치외교학; Denmark; Japan
• ISSN: 0023-3919; 2586-3053

This paper analyzes the development of female-friendly employment and labor market policies, focusing on the case of South Korea, whose government has pursued an increase in women's employment in the labor market over the past decade under the pressure of social, economic, and demographic challenges. It examines the three policy cases - Affirmative Action, the creation of good quality part-time employment, and the flexible work arrangement system -, all of which have been actively promoted by the government to assist female workers participating in the labor market. In this paper, I argue that South Korean policy-makers have made various efforts to boost female labor force participation as part of its economic growth strategy, but have achieved very limited outcomes in the improvement of the quality and quantity of women's employment.