Women's Employment Structure in Korea KWDI
kwwa  2002-10-28 14:57:41, 조회 : 486

Women's Employment Structure in Korea / by Taehong Kim / KWDI Research Reports/ Women's Studies Forum, Vol.9 / December 1993  

* This paper is the condensation of the 1992 Research Report 200-8 by the KWDI research team Roh Mi-hye, Kim Tae-hong, Kim Young-ock, Yang Seung-joo,  Moon You-kyong.

Kim Tae-hong(Senior Researcher, KWDI)

I. INTRODUCTION

Due to recent economic developments, the demand side and supply side of the female labor market in Korea have shifted significantly. As a result,  the patterns and problems in the employment structure, particularly the  structure of the female labor force, have also changed. In this study, to  analyze the employment status of women and structure of the female work  force, a sample survey was conducted based on the female population aged 15  years old and over. This was the first nationwide household survey on the  employment structure of women in Korea. In this survey, the attributes of  households and household members were obtained through interviews, and  then, detailed questionnaires were given to the women aged 15 to 64 who  were residing in the household. However, unmarried women who were enrolled  in school were excluded from this survey. There are 80 enumeration  districts, and 40 households in each enumeration district were interviewed.  The number of women interviewed was 3,066. Among them, 1,637 were employed;  108 were unemployed; and 1,321 were economically inactive members of the  population(Note : The participation rate of the female labor force in this  study was 56.9%, which was higher than that reported by the National  Statistical Office (47.3% as of 1991). The difference reflects the  exclusion of the student population (The majority were unmarried and  economically inactive) in this study.).

II. ATTRIBUTES OF EMPLOYED WOMEN

1. Employment Structure of Women

A. Employment Structure of Women by Industry

Among the 1,633 employed women, 45.4% were engaged in the sector of social overhead capital (SOC) and other services; 31.5% were engaged in the sector  of agriculture, forestry, and fishing; and the remaining 23.1% were engaged  in the sector of mining and manufacturing. In urban areas, 63.2% of  employed women were engaged in the sector of SOC and other services,  whereas in rural areas, 80.2% of employed women were engaged in the sector  of agriculture, forestry, and fishing.

The employment structure of women by marital status reveals that the proportion of women engaged in the third sector (SOC and other services)  was the highest regardless of their marital status. However, the second  largest sector of industry was different by marital status; that is, for  married women, it is high in the proportion of women engaged in  agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector, whereas for never married women,  it is high in the proportion of women engaged in mining and  manufacturing(Note : According to the analysis of the data tape of the 1991  Economically Active Population Survey conducted by the National Statistical  Office(NSO), the proportions of never married women engaged in agriculture,  forestry, fishing, mining and manufacturing; and SOC and other services  were 0.5%, 31.7%, and 67.8% respectively, whereas the related proportions  for married women were 24.7%, 26.0%, and 49.3% respectively.). In detail,  while the largest proportion of married women were found in wholesale and  retail trade (24.1% of all married women), the larger proportion of never  married women were found in the industries of SOC and other services(26.7%  of all never married women), wholesale and retail trade(17.6%), and  finance, insurance, real estate and business services(12.5%). That is, the  employment pattern for never married women was relatively uniform across  all industries excluding agriculture, forestry, and fishing. However, for  married women, 60% of total employed women were concentrated in the first  (agriculture, forestry, and fishing) and third sector(SOC and other  services) of industry.

[Table 1] Women's Employment Structure by Industry
                                                          Unit : Person, %
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                                                SOC
                     Agric.   Mfg.     ------------------------    Total
                                       Subtotal   W & R   Serv.
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Total                 515     377        741       377    246      1,633
                    (31.5)   (23.1)     (45.4)   (23.1)  (15.1)   (100.0)
Region
  Urban                42     342        659       328    220      1,043
                     (4.0)   (32.8)     (63.2)   (31.4)  (21.1)   (100.0)
  Rural               473      35         82        49     26        590
                    (80.2)    (5.9)     (13.9)    (8.3)   (4.4)   (100.0)
Marital Status
  Never married         1      92        162        45     68        255
                     (0.4)   (36.1)     (63.5)   (17.6)  (26.7)   (100.0)
  Married             514     285        579       332    178      1,378
                    (37.3)   (20.7)     (42.0)   (24.1)  (12.9)   (100.0)
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Note : Agri. refers to Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing
       Mfg. refers to Mining and Manufacturing
       SOC refers to Social Overhead Capital and Other Services
       W & R refers to Wholesale and Retail Trade
       Serv. refers to Social Services

The distribution of employed women by industry reveals that a high proportion of women engaged in the first industry have a primary school  level education; a high proportion of women in the second industry(mining  and manufacturing) have a middle school level education; and that the third  industry has a high proportion of women with a high school level education.  More specifically, fewer than 20% of employed women with middle and high  school level educations were employed in the first sector, while the  proportion of these women engaged in the second and third sector were 35%  and 30% respectively. In contrast to this, a low proportion of women with  college level education were found employed in the first sector. Instead,  77.9% of the college graduates were engaged in the sector of SOC and other  services; particularly, in the industry of personal services and wholesale  and retail trade.

The employment structure of women by industry reveals that the proportion of women employed in urban third sector has been increasing since 1985,  while the proportion of employed women engaged in rural first sector has  been decreasing. However, while the majority of employed women residing in  urban areas were found in the third sector - particularly, in the industry  of wholesale and retail trade - the majority of employed women residing in  rural areas were found in the first sector. Moreover, the proportion of  employed women (the number of employed women divided by total employees)  has increased.

[Table 2] Women's Employment Structure by Industry and Levels of Education

                                                          Unit : Person, %
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                SOC
                     Agric.   Mfg.     ------------------------    Total
                                       Subtotal   W & R   Serv.
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Total                 515     377        741       377    246      1,633
                    (31.5)   (23.1)     (45.4)   (23.1)  (15.1)   (100.0)
Level of Education
  Primary School      442      87        198       119     47        726
                    (60.9)   (12.0)     (27.3)   (16.4)   (6.5)   (100.0)
  Middle School        49     114        108        78     21        271
                    (18.1)   (42.1)     (39.8)   (28.8)   (7.8)   (100.0)
  High School          24     156        289       148     80        469
                     (5.1)   (33.3)     (61.6)   (31.6)  (17.1)   (100.0)
  University            0      20        147        32     98        167
                     (0.0)   (12.0)     (82.0)   (19.2)  (58.7)   (100.0)
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B. Women's Employment Structure by Occupation

As for the female employment structure by occupation, 31.6% of 1,628 employed women in this study were found to be engaged in the first sector,  19% were in production and retail trade jobs 17.1% were in sales, 14.6%  were in services, 9.9% were in clerical work, and 7.8% had professional  jobs. In urban areas, most of the employed women were found to be engaged  in production and related jobs(26.8%), sales(23.7%), and services(20.7%),  while in rural areas, 80% of the employed women were found to be engaged in  the sector of agriculture, forestry, and fishing.

Among never married women, the proportions of women engaged in clerical and related jobs(52.0%) and professional and related jobs(18.8%) were  relatively high, whereas the proportions of women engaged in agriculture,  forestry, and fishing(37.5%) and sales and services(35.2%) were high among  married women. Comparing these results to those of the first employment  survey which was conducted only for married women in 1985, the proportions  of married women engaged in agriculture and sales jobs have decreased while  those of professional, clerical, and service jobs have increased. This  indicates that the employment structure of women by occupation has improved  slightly since 1985.

The majority of the employed women with less than primary school level education were engaged in the sector of agriculture, forestry, and  fishing(61.3%). While larger proportion of women with middle school level  education were found to be engaged in production and related jobs(40.1%),  the proportion of women with college level education were found more likely  to be engaged in professional and technical related jobs(60.7%). However,  in the case of employed women with high school level education, it was  observed that 27.1% were engaged in clerical and related jobs, 26.0% were  in sales, 22.2% were in production and related jobs and 15.4% were in  service jobs. Therefore, the distribution of employed women by occupation  varied according to level of education.

[Table 3] Distribution of Employed Women by Occupation

                                                           Unit : Person, %
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                   P & A    Cler.   Sales.  Serv.   Agri.   Prod.   Total
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Total               127     161      278     238     515     309    1,628
                   (7.8)   (9.9)   (17.1)  (14.6)  (31.6)  (19.0)  (100.0)
Marital Status
Never Married       48     133       19      15       1      49      256
                  (18.8)  (52.0)    (7.4)   (5.9)   (0.4)  (15.6)  (100.0)
Married             79      28      259     223     514     269    1,372
                   (5.8)   (2.0)   (18.9)  (16.3)  (37.5)  (19.6)  (100.0)
Level of Education
Primary School       4       1       73     109     441      91      719
                   (0.6)   (0.1)   (10.2)  (15.2)  (61.3)  (12.7)  (100.0)
Middle School        1       2       64      46      50     109      272
                   (0.4)   (0.7)   (23.5)  (16.9)  (18.4)  (40.1)  (100.0)
High Schools        20     127      122      72      24     104      469
                   (4.3)  (27.1)   (26.0)  (15.4)   (5.1)  (22.2)  (100.0)
University         102      31       19      11       0       5      168
                  (60.7)  (18.5)   (11.3)   (6.5)   (0.0)   (3.0)  (100.0)
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Note :  P & A : Professional and Administrative
         Cler. : Clerical
         Sales.: Sales
         Serv. : Services
         Agri. : Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing
         Prod. : Production

The employment structure of women by age reveals that in the 15∼24 age group, the majority(50.2%) were engaged in clerical and related jobs,  followed by production and related jobs(20.1%), and professional,  technical, and related jobs(13.7%). In the 25∼29 age group, the  proportions of women engaged in production related jobs, professional,  technical, and related jobs, and clerical jobs were about 20%,  respectively. In comparison to this, in the 30∼39 age group, the observed  distributions of women were such that 26.7% were engaged in sales, 26.5%  were in production related jobs, 19.1% were in agriculture, forestry, and  fishing, and 16.7% were in service jobs. For women aged 40 and over,  majority(53.0%) of employed women were found to be engaged in agriculture,  forestry, and fishing followed by services(17.0%), sales (14.0%), and  production related jobs(12.7%).

The above results indicate that the proportion of women engaged in clerical jobs fell both in its absolute number and percentage (the  proportion of employed women engaged in clerical jobs among total employed  women by each age group), particularly, in the 25∼29 age group. This  implies that a majority of them left the labor market because of marriage  and childbirth. Compared to this, the absolute number and proportion of  women engaged in sales, services and agriculture jobs increased in the  30∼39 age group indicating that a great proportion of women had reentered  the job market. However, regardless of age, the proportion of women engaged  in professional, technical, and administrative jobs were remained about the  same, indicating that women in these occupations were more likely to stay  in the job market regardless of their life cycle.

The occupational segregation by sex was serious among employed women. For example, the majority(72.4%) of all female professional and administrative  workers were teachers and nurses; the majority of female clerical and other  office workers were calculating machine operators; the majority of female  sales workers were found to be in wholesale and retail trade jobs ; and the  majority of female service workers were found to be in housekeeping or to  be self-employed at restaurants. Moreover, the occupational segregation was  also serious among women engaged in agriculture and production related  jobs. The majority of the employed women engaged in agriculture, for  example, were found to be in agriculture and livestock farming. Among women  engaged in production related jobs, the majority were employed at apparel,  electricity, and other production related facilities.

As a result, out of 82 divisions of the occupational classification system, about 68% of all employed women were located in the above mentioned  10 divisions. This indicates that the current increases in the proportion  of women engaged in upper level jobs were mainly due to the increase in the  proportion of women holding jobs in fields that were already dominated by  women, such as teaching. Additionally, the occupational distribution of  women according to marital status reveals that among never married women,  the proportion of women holding clerical jobs, such as calculating machine  operators, was high, and among married women, the proportion of women  engaged in agriculture/livestock farming as unpaid family workers,  wholesale and retail trade as self-employed workers, and housekeeping and  other household service jobs was also high.

[Table 4] Distribution of Employed Women by 3-digit Classified Occupation

                                                           Unit : Person, %
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             Number of    Major Jobs Within Three-digit Classified
             Employed     Occupation
             Women        (Percentage)
            (Major Group)
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P & A       127(100.0)   Teachers(63.0)
Cler.       161(100.0)   Calculating Machine Operator(57.8)
Sales       278(100.0)   Self-employed in Wholesale and Retail Trade(32.4)
                          Sales Workers and Shopkeepers(15.1)
Serv.       238(199.0)   Housekeepers(38.7)
                          Self-employed in Food(17.6)
Agri.       515(100.0)   Farm and Livestock Workers(97.5)
Prod.       309(100.0)   Apparel(32.3)
                          Electronics(16.2)
                          Other Production Related Workers(15.5)
Total     1,628(100.0)   10 Above-mentioned Jobs(68.1)
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Note : The percentage for major occupation designates the proportion of women concentrated in specific occupations out of all women whom belong to  the major group of occupations.

C. Women's Employment Structure by Number of Workers in the Establishments

The employment structure by the number of workers in the establishments reveals that 69.0% of all employed women were employed in a small  establishments, where the number of the employees was less than four. 18.8%  of women were employed in establishments with 5∼49 workers, and 8.9% of  employed women were employed in the establishments with 50∼299 employees.  In large establishments where the number of employees were greater than  300, only 3.3% of all employed women were employed. This indicates that the  majority of employed women in Korea were employed in small-scale  establishments with the result that their working status is unstable.

In rural areas, most employed women were engaged in the sector of agriculture. According to the distribution of employed women by the number  of employees in establishments, 56.6% of the urban workers were working in  establishments of fewer than 4 employees, 25.8% in establishments with  5∼49 employees, 12.5% in establishments with 50∼299 employees, and 5.1%  in the establishments with 300 employees or more.

[Table 5] Women's Employment Structure by Working Status and Size of Establishment

                                                           Unit : Person, %
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  1∼4   5∼9  10∼49 50∼99 100∼299 300∼999 1000+  Total
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Total            1,121    109    197     82      62     24      29   1,624
                 (69.0)  (6.7) (12.1)  (5.1)   (3.8)   (1.5)  (1.8) (100.0)
Working Status        
Employer/Self     289      3      4      2       9      0       0     307
-employed       (94.1)  (1.0)  (1.3)  (0.7)   (2.9)   (0.0)  (0.0) (100.0)
Unpaid Family      584     14      2      3       0      0       1     604
Workers         (96.7)  (2.3)  (0.3)  (0.5)   (0.0)   (0.0)  (0.2) (100.0)
Regular             66     68    118     59      42     16      19     388
Worker          (17.0) (17.5) (30.5) (15.2)  (10.8)   (4.1)  (4.9) (100.0)
Temporary &        181     24     73     18      20      8       9     333
Daily Workers   (54.4)  (7.2) (21.9)  (5.4)   (6.0)   (2.4)  (2.7) (100.0)
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By working status, 94.1% of female employees and self-employed, and 96.7% of the unpaid family workers were working in establishments of 4 or fewer  employees. In the case of temporary and daily workers, 54.4% were also  working in establishments fewer than 4 employees and 29.1% were working in  establishments of 5∼49 employees. In comparison to this, though the  regular employees were distributed evenly across all sizes of  establishments, the majority were working in the establishments where the  number of employees was less than 300.

The employment structure of women by the establishment size reveals that female employers or self-employed women were the likely to be operating  small-scale establishments. Most of the temporary and daily workers were  not protected by the Labor Standard Act(54.4% of the temporary and daily  female workers were employed in the small-scale establishments of fewer  than 4 employees, where the reinforcement of the Labor Standard Act was  exempted). This fact indicates that the legal or institutional efforts to  create better working environments could be limited. Furthermore only 1.8%  of married women were employed in large-scale establishments, where the  number of employees was greater than 300. Thus, the Mother-Child Welfare  Act could only be enforced in a limited way, especially since the  enforcement of the Article concerning to establishment of care facilities  applies only to establishments of 500 and more workers(Note : As of 1991,  only 600 establishments were applicated by the Law.)

D. Women's Employment Structure by Working Status

The women's employment structure by working status shows that 55.3% of all employed women were non-wage workers, while the remaining 44.7% were wage  workers. 1.2% of non_wage workers were employers, 17.1% were self-employed,  and 37.0% were unpaid family workers. Wage workers were classified into two  groups ; regular employees(53.1%) and temporary/daily workers(46.9%).  Though the proportion of temporary/daily workers out of all employed women  was similar with those of other survey results, the proportion of temporary  and daily workers out of all wage workers was found to be relatively high  in this study.

[Table 6] Distribution of Employed Women by Working Status

                                                           Unit : Person, %
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                    Employer  Self -    Unpaid  Regular  Temporary  Total
                              Employed  Family  Worker   /Daily
                                        Worker           Worker
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                 19        280       605     389       343     1,636
                     (1.2)    (17.1)    (37.0)  (23.7)    (21.0)   (100.0)
Marital Status
Never-Married         4          5        12     211        24       256
                     (1.6)     (2.0)     (4.7)  (82.4)     (9.4)   (100.0)
Married              15        275       593     178       319     1,380
                     (1.1)    (19.9)    (43.0)  (12.9)    (23.1)   (100.0)
Age Group
15∼24                1          4        14     170        30       219
                     (0.5)     (1.8)     (6.4)  (77.6)    (13.7)   (100.0)
25∼29                2         20        41      71        38       172
                     (1.2)    (11.6)    (23.8)  (41.2)    (22.1)   (100.0)
30∼39               13         94       162      80       124       473
                     (2.8)    (19.9)    (34.2)  (16.9)    (26.2)   (100.0)
40+                   3        162       388      68       151       772
                     (0.4)    (21.0)    (50.3)   (8.8)    (19.5)   (100.0)
Industry
Agri.                 0         89       399       2        24       514
                     (0.0)    (17.3)    (77.6)   (0.4)     (4.7)   (100.0)
Mfg.                  3         10        31     151       185       380
                     (0.8)     (2.6)     (8.2)  (39.7)    (48.7)   (100.0)
SOC                  16        179       175     235       133       738
                     (2.2)    (24.3)    (23.7)  (31.8)    (18.0)   (100.0)
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Note : Agri. : Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing
        Mfg. : Mining and Manufacturing
        SOC : Social Overhead Capital and Other Services

In urban areas, 61.0% of employed women were wage earners and 20.8% were unpaid family workers. In rural areas, 65.8% of employed women were  unpaid-family workers and 18.1% were self-employed. By marital status, the  majority(82.4%) of the never married women were found to be regular  workers, while for married women, 43.0% were unpaid family workers, 12.9%  were regular workers, and 23.1% were temporary and daily workers.  Furthermore, 19.9% were classified as self-employed women. These  characteristics were also observed when the working status of employed  women was analyzed according to age. In 15∼24 age group, where majority  were never married, 91.3% of the employed women were wage earners, while  among women aged 40 and over, 50.3% were unpaid family workers. That is,  the distribution of working status by age of employed women reveals that  the younger the age of employed women, the higher the proportion of wage  workers. Conversely the greater the age of employed women, the greater the  proportion of non-wage workers, particularly unpaid family workers.  furthermore, the younger the age of employed women, the greater the  proportion of regular workers among wage earners, while the greater the age  of women, the greater the proportion of temporary and daily workers.

The status of female workers by industry reveals that 77.6% of employed women engaged in the sector of agriculture were unpaid family workers,  while 88.4% of women engaged in the mining and manufacturing sector were  wage workers. Compared to this, 49.8% of women employed in the sector of  SOC and other services were wage workers, whereas 24.3% were self-employed  and another 23.7% were unpaid family workers. Additionally, the majority of  self-employed women(73.7%) and female unpaid family workers(78.9%) employed  in SOC and other services were engaged in wholesale and retail trade jobs.

E. Characteristics of Major Groups of Employed Women

Through the comprehensive analysis of the women's employment structure, seven groups were classified based on the characteristics of employed  women. These seven groups accounted for 83.0% of all employed women. Four  groups, that is, A, B, C, D, accounted 83.3% of all married women, whereas  the remaining three groups, E, F, G, accounted for 81.5% of all unmarried  women.

The majority of employed women residing in rural areas were self-employed or unpaid family workers engaged in the sector of agriculture, forestry,  and fishing (Group A). The majority of women in this group were middle aged  women of 40 years old and over(79.0%) with less than primary school level  education(86.1%)

The remaining six groups pertained to the employment structure of urban women. The greatest proportion of employed women residing in urban areas  was in B group. The percentages of married women aged 30∼39 were  relatively high in groups B and C (46.0% and 48.6%,respectively), and in  group D, the proportion of women aged 40 and over was also relatively high  (45.8%). The proportions of women with higher levels of education were  relatively high in groups B, C, and D, in that order. That is, the  proportion of women with more than high school level education was 46.0% in  group B, 34.8% in Group C, and 29.1% in group D. The proportion of employed  women who had at least one child aged 6 or less was the greatest in group  C(i.e., 33.8% of married women had at least one child aged 6 or less),  followed by group B(26.2%) and group D(7.6%). That is, married women with  the employment structure of groups B and C had the attributes of higher  levels of education and younger age compared to the women of D group. As a  result, the proportion of women with at least one child aged 6 or less was  also high among these groups.

As shown in [Table 7], the majority of never married women had the type of E, F, G. The attributes of never married women reveals that majority of  them were in the 15∼24 age group, relatively younger in group G compared  to groups E and F. The highest levels of education were found among women  in group E ; 37.4% of them had higher education than the college level and  the remaining 62.6% had high school level education. About 26.5% of never  married women in group F had the educational level of college, while 62.6%  were in high school level.

[Table 7] Classification of Employed Women by Major Working Type

                                                                   Unit : %
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         Type  Industry Occupation      Working Status           Percentage
                                                                 of All Em-
                                                                 ployed
                                                                 Women
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Married    A   Agri.    Agri.           Employer/Unpaid Family
                                                 Worker          29.9(35.5)
           B   Service  Sales/Service   Employer/Self-employed/
                                        Unpaid Family Worker     19.3(22.9)
           c   Mfg.     Production      Wage Workers             12.9(15.3)
           D   Service  Sales/Service   Wage Workers              8.1( 9.6)
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Never      E   Service  Prof./Clerical  Wage Workers              7.6(48.2)
Married   F   Mfg.     Prof./Clerical  Wage Workers              3.0(19.2)
           G   Mfg.     Production      Wage Workers              2.2(14.1)
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Note : 1) In Agri. Mining was also included.
        2) Service refers to SOC and Other Services
        3) The percentage in (  ) designates the respective percentages
among married women and among never married women.

In regards to the sector of manufacturing it was found that a relatively high proportion of employed women were engaged in the large-scale  establishments. If they was employed in similar kinds of establishments,  women in group G were more likely to be employed in the larger-scale  establishments than women in group F(27.8% of all never married women in  group G were employed in the establishments with 100 employees or more).

2. The conditions of Employment

A. Monthly Income and Hours Worked per Week

According to the survey results on the monthly income of employed women excluding unpaid family workers, the average monthly income of employed  women was 476 thousand won ; 478 thousand won in urban areas and 449  thousand won in rural areas(Note : Farm households were excluded from this  study because income in farm households were calculated by revenues minus  costs.).

The distribution of employed women by monthly income group was as follows ; 200∼399 thousand won(35.9% of all employed women), 400∼599 thousand  won(27.4%), 600∼799 thousand won(9.3%), 800∼999 thousand won(4.1%), less  than 200 thousand won(13.0%), and more than 1 million won per month(10.3%). That is, about half(48.9%) of all the employed women earned less than 400  thousand won which is less than the national average monthly income.

The average monthly income of unmarried women was 475 thousand won. In the case of married women, it was 478 thousand won, roughly the same as that of  never married women. By age group, the monthly 387 thousand won, income for  the 15∼24 age group was, 542 thousand won for the 25∼29 age group, 481  thousand won for the 30∼39 group, and 440 thousand won for women aged 40  and over. That is, the income level of employed women increased as the age  of women increased up to the age of 30 : however, after that age, the level  of income decreased as the age of women increased. These age patterns of  income are a result of the fact that women tend to leave the labor market  at about the age of 25∼29 for marriage and child brith and reenter the  labor market after age 30, indication that the patterns of women's economic  particpation depends highly on their life cycle.

[Table 8] Distribution of Employed Women Income Groups

                                                                   Unit : %
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                  1∼9  10∼19  20∼39  40∼59  60∼79  80∼99  100+  Total
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Total              4.5    8.5    35.9    27.4     9.3     4.1   10.3  100.0
Region
Urban             4.5    8.5    35.3    27.6     9.4     4.4   10.3  100.0
Rural             4.4    8.7    45.7    23.9     8.7     0.0    8.6  100.0
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* Unit : ten thousand won

The average hours worked per week of employed women was about 55.1 hours ; 52.0 hours in urban areas and 60.5 hours in rural areas. By marital status,  it was 48.7 hours per week for unmarried women and 56.3 hours for married  women. Female employers worked 67.2 hours per week ; self-employed women  62.1 hours ; unpaid family worker 61.7 hours ; and wage earners 46.7 hours.

[Table 9] Average Working Hours per Week by Occupation

                                                                Unit : hour
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                      P & A   Cler.   Sales   Serv.  Agri.   Prod.   Total
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Working Hours         41.3   49.2    59.8    59.8   62.2    47.2    55.1
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Breaking down hours worked according to occupation, administrative and professional workers were working the least(41.3 hours), followed by  production and related workers(47.2 hours), and clerical workers(49.2  hours). Compared to this, the number of hours worked in agriculture,  forestry, and fishing was relatively high as much as 62.2 hours per week.  Women engaged in sales and services were working for 59.8 hours a week. In  other words, administrative and professional workers, production and  related workers, clerical workers, who were generally wage earners, the  working tended to be short, whereas among women in agriculture, sales, and  service jobs, where there is a high proportion of employers or unpaid  family workers, the working weeks were relatively long.

According to the statistics on working hours, 17.8% of all wage earners (130 out of 729) had worked less than 35 hours per week. The majority of  these underemployed workers(107 women) were temporary and daily workers. By  marital status, 23.9% of all married women were underemployed workers,  whereas only 4.7% of unmarried women were underemployed workers. In other  words, among married women, employers and unpaid family workers tended to  work relatively long hours. Among married women, wage workers were likely  to hold unstable jobs.

[Table 10] Distribution of Employed Women by Working Hours per Week

                                                           Unit : Person, %
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                     Hour   1∼17  18∼35  36∼53   54+  Temporary   Total
                                                         on Leave
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Total                         36     205     487    877     23       1,628
                            (2.2)  (12.6)  (29.9)  (53.9)  (1.4)    (100.0)
Rigion
Urban                        28     149     390    450     17       1,034
                            (2.7)  (14.4)  (37.7)  (43.5)  (1.6)    (100.0)
Rural                         8      56      97    427      6         594
                            (1.4)   (9.4)  (16.3)  (71.9)  (1.0)    (100.0)
Working Status
Employer                      0       0       3     15      0          18
                            (0.0)   (0.0)  (16.7)  (83.3)  (0.0)    (100.0)
Self Employed                 8      26      42    194      4         274
  Workers                   (2.9)   (9.5)  (15.3)  (70.8)  (1.5)    (100.0)
Unpaid Family                 6      71      79    448      3         607
  Worker                   (1.0)   (11.7)  (13.0)  (73.8)  (0.5)    (100.0)
Regular                       3      20     252    109      3         387
  worker                    (0.8)   (5.2)  (65.1)  (28.2)  (0.8)    (100.0)
Temporary &                  19      88     111    111     13         342
  Daily Worker        &n
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