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2002-10-28 14:52:20, 조회 : 74 |
A Study on Part-Time Workers in Korea / by Taehong Kim /KWDI Research Reports/Women's Studies Forum, Vol.11/December 1995
* This paper is a summarization of the '95 Researc Report 200-1 by the KWDI research project done by Kim Tae-hong.
Kim Tae-hong
Senior Researcher, KWDI
THE STATUS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF PART-TIME WORKERS
There are two methods that can be used to define part-time workers. One method is according to the working hours per week, and the other isaccording to the real status quo in the workplace. However, when we concentrate on using the second method, we must include a definition for every year's determination of part-time employment in order to obtain the quality results which are consistent. (In order to specify the definition of working part-time, the National Statistical Office often divides them into working either regularly or working casually to determine the total number of part-time workers in a country.
According to these principles, the total number of part-time workers was 5.4 million in 1992; using the same principles for today, the total number of workers with less than 32 hours as working hours and for workers with less than 35 hours as working hours are, 4.5 million and 5.34 million respectively. Of the correspondents who were questioned, a total of 2.6 million (2.8) said they work casually for more than 35 hours (32 hours), while 2.4 million (1.91) have said that they regularly work for less than 35(32) hours a week. National Statistical Office, "Report on Employment Structure" 1993 original tape.)
Therefore, in our research, we have defined part-time employment according to working hours per week to determine the obtained results. Even if we define part-time employment according to working hours per week, it is necessary for us to clearly define our categories, like the ones set by the National Workers Association as "less than 32 hours per week" or "less than 35 hours per week" which are standards used by other foreign countries. We can have any perspective on which kind of method can be used, but the best answers may come from the comparing specific statistics obtained from workers working 30-34 hours to those working more than 40 hours or even with the part-time workers working 18-29 hours.
Show below are the results obtained from the original National Statistical Office's "Report on Employment Structure (1993)," containing comparisons of workers with 30 to 34-hour work weeks to those who work more than 40 hours and also with workers working 18-29 hours.
The results show that the statistics of workers with 30 to 34- hour work weeks are very similar to those of the workers with 18-29-hour work weeks. Therefore in our research we will examine the real status of
employees working under 35 hours per week as part-time workers. Since there are no up-to-date statistics for working part-time, we must base our study on "The Annual Report on the Population in the Economic Community 1980-1993," and also the "Report on the Employment Structure, the original material tape (1984, 1993)".
1. The Number of Part-Time Workers and Their Transition.
The number of part-time workers in Korea rose to 570,000 during 1993, from 230,000 in 1980 (from 175,000 to 513,000 based on 32-hour work weeks). By looking into the yearly statistics of the number of the part-time workers since the 1980s, the number has been increasing despite temporary decreases in 1982, 1985 and 1988.(By looking at Table 1, we can see that the total number of part-time workers was 5.7 million in 1986, the highest since 1980. However, during 1986, the total number of workers by month shows that during September, the number of workers working 18-26 hours per week was 2.128 million, while those working 27-35 hours a week was 4.369 million. This shows a remarkable difference in the number of workers with the shortest period of employment compared to other years of the same month (5.28 and 7.36 million in 1985, 4.89 million and 6.56 million in 1987) or another month of the same year (August 5.07 million and 7.06 million respectively; during October, 2.64 million and 4.16 million).
So, with the results obtained from September's statistics, an unofficial source from the National Statistical Office concludes that because the results were obtained during the period between the 14th-20th, not including the 18th, which was the holiday Chusok (Harvest or Thanksgiving Day), the results seem totally unexpected. Since the results are problematic, the average number for the years 1986 and 1987 have been used for the number of part-time workers during 1986 out of convenience.)
Therefore, the proportion of the part-time workers among all paid workers had increased up to 4.3% in 1990 and by 4.9% in 1993, from the 3.6% in 1980. Compared to other countries, which means that working part-time has not been widely spread in Korea.
[Table 1] Yearly Distribution of Part-time Workers by Gender
unit: 1,000,%
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total employed female workers fem. %
TE PT PT/TE TE PT PT/TE of PT
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1980 6,464 231 3.6 2,049 106 5.2 45.9
1981 6,605 232 3.5 2,082 95 4.6 40.9
1982 6,839 166 2.4 2,241 81 3.6 48.8
1983 7,171 230 3.2 2,421 114 4.7 49.6
1984 7,632 255 3.3 2,551 133 5.2 52.2
1985 8,104 248 3.1 2,810 134 4.8 54.0
1986 8,433 580 6.9 2,962 255 8.6 44.0
1987 9,191 366 4.0 3,318 194 5.8 53.0
1988 9,610 312 3.2 3,467 176 5.1 56.4
1989 10,354 465 4.5 3,936 299 7.6 64.3
1990 10,865 463 4.3 4,159 305 7.3 65.9
1991 11,287 509 4.5 4,307 338 7.8 66.4
1992 11,505 572 5.0 4,380 374 8.5 65.4
1993 11,751 570 4.9 4,404 370 8.4 64.9
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FT=full-time; PT=part-time, TE=total employed
Source: National Statistical Office(each year), Annual Report on the Economically Active Population Survey.
The total number of female part-time workers has also continuously increased up to 370,000 in 1993 from 106,000 in 1980. Thus, the proportion of female part-time workers among all employed female workers rose to 45.9% in 1980 to 65.9% in 1990 and 64.9% in 1993. Also, the increase rate of female part-time workers are greater than that of the total increase rate for part-time workers. Additionally, the total rate of female part-time workers compared to the total rate of the part-time workforce has increased from 45.9% in 1980 to 65.9% in 1990, and 64.9% in 1993.
When we look at the contracts of part-time workers, we can see that 71% were working as temporaries for less than a month during 1980, but number decreased to 66.1% in 1985, 64.4% in 1990 and 48.8% by 1993. These results show that the length of employment has been increasing. When we look at the results regarding gender, we can assume that the period for part-time employment has been increasing as well; for example, in 1980 76.4% of female part-time workers were working at temporary jobs, but this decreased to 64.3% in 1990 and 51.4% in 1993. However the rate of temporary employment for females is higher than that of the male workers. (For yearly statistics see [Sub-Table 3-2])
2. Personal Characteristics of Part-timers
a) Educational distribution
In looking at the educational distribution of part-time workers as of 1993, we found that 36.3% were middle school graduates or below, 32.5% were high school graduates, 4% were junior college graduates, and 27.2% were college or university graduates. In comparison to the educational distribution of all salaried workers, the percentages for university graduates and for middle school graduates and below are particularly high. (The educational distribution of salaried workers, according to 1993 statistics, shows 29.2% were graduates of middle school or below, 45.6% were high school, 6.0% were junior college and 19.2% were college or university graduates.)
Most of the university graduates' part-time employment based on consistent need (88.4%), while that of middle school graduates was on a temporary basis (77.3%). Also in looking at changes of the distribution of the part-time workforce since 1980, the percentage of middle school graduates and below has been decreasing, but those of the other categories has generally been increasing.
[Table 2] Distribution of Part-timers by Education
unit %
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mid. school high junior college total
and below school college or univ.
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1980 78.9 14.2 0.9 6.0 100.0
1985 66.1 20.6 2.0 11.3 100.0
1990 47.6 27.7 2.8 21.9 100.0
1991 42.9 26.9 4.3 25.9 100.0
1992 38.7 29.2 5.3 26.8 100.0
1993 36.3 32.5 4.0 27.2 100.0
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Source: National Statistical Office(each year), Annual Reports on the
Economically Active Population Survey.
The distribution by gender shows that female part-time workers are comprised of 37.8% middle school graduates or below, 34.6% high school graduates, 4.3% junior college graduates and 23.2% college/university graduates as of 1993. The proportion of higher school and university graduates among female part-time workers was relatively high compared with that of male part-time workers. In comparison with 1980, the number of female high school graduates working part-time has increased greatly to 117,000, and college/university graduates to 66,000. The increased number of part-time workers middle school graduates and college graduates were 49,000 and 15,000 respectively. The decrease in the number of middle school graduates and below resulted from higher attendance and graduation rate of women in schools and the subsequent emergence of women with higher education in the labor market. (Table 4-2) On the other hand it has been noted that many females with higher-education have chosen to work part-time, whether on a voluntary basis or not.
[Table 3] Distribution and Change in Female Workers by Education
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mid. school
high school junior college total
or below college or univ.
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Sala- 1980(%) 67.6 27.2 2.2 3.0 100.0
ried 1993(%) 37.5 44.2 6.2 12.1 100.0
empl. change(%) -30.1 +17.0 +4.0 +9.1 -
Part- 1980(%) 85.8 10.4 0.9 2.8 100.0
time 1993(%) 37.8 34.6 4.3 23.2 100.0
empl. change(%) -48.0 +24.2 +3.4 +20.5 100.0
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Source: National Statistical Office(each year), Annual Reports on the Economically Active Population Survey.
b) Marital Status
If we see the marital status of part-time workers shows that the number of married workers has proportionately decreased, particularly since 1985. In 1980, the percentage stood at 81.4% and rose to 83.1% in 1985, but then dropped to 77% in 1990 and further to 73.3% in 1993. This drop in the proportion of married to unmarried P/T workers resulted from the disparity between the 19.5% increase in unmarried workers to the 9.4% increase in married ones. Not only that, among unmarried employees, the percentage part-time workers increased from 1.2% in 1980 to 4.2% in 1993, but the percentage of married part-time workers remained unchanged from 11.7% in 1980 and also in 1993. Another statistical trend that was shown is that the percentage of widowed part-time employees fell from 8.2% to 7.2% over the same period. The decreased percentage of working part-time among married people is due to the slow growth in their demand for part-time jobs compared to unmarried workers and also an overall decline in the demand for part-time job compared to the past.
[Table 4] Distribution of Marital Status of Part-time Employees
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