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2002-10-28 15:05:21, 조회 : 415 |
A Study of the Impact of Unemployment on the Family and the Role of Women / by Hyekyung Chang and Youngran Kim/ KWDI Research Reports/Women's Studies Forum, Vol.16/ December 2000
* This article is partial summary of The 1999 Study of the Impacts of Unemployment on Family and Changes in Women's Roles by HyeKyung Chang and Youngran Kim.
Hyekyung Chang, Fellow
Youngran Kim, Researcher
Introduction
1.Purpose and Need for Research
When Korea underwent the supervision of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the resulting massive unemployment created an economic shock which reverberated cross many households at all levels of society. The impacts ranged from actual economic difficulties to the breakup of families and manifesting themselves in varied and serious ways depending on the conditions of the individual families. Corporate and financial restructuring, in particular, which led to massive white-collar unemployment spurred a serious social phenomenon because it led to the accelerated collapse of the middle class, the bedrock in maintaining the social order.
As men, who traditionally played the role of providers for their families, lost their jobs, family differences and family crises began to emerge as a common phenomenon. An offshoot of this phenomenon is that as their and household heads who were responsible for the livelihood of the family lost their jobs, and the traditional patriarchal custom of the man at work and the women at home changed or was weakened as housewives were forced to enter the labor market. In other words, the changed economic situation and family roles forced the family members to adapt to a new situation. Most studies on unemployment and family in Korea focused on the theoretical aspects of family troubles that can result from unemployment in relation to the importance of family welfare. Therefore, there are very few studies in Korea which look at the empirical and practical aspects of family troubles. One of the reasons for this was that since Korea maintained high growth with low unemployment, unemployment was viewed as a personal problem rather than a social one.
However, as Korea underwent IMF supervision, unemployment skyrocketed, leading to family problems such as divorce and desertion of children. As more families broke apart, society as a whole became more concerned which spurred research and especially empirical studies on unemployment and the family. The purpose of this paper is to study the direct influence unemployment has on the unemployed family and women since Korea came under IMF supervision. Then by studying how the families adapt to unemployment, to reveal how family stability and closeness are affected by the economic shock
2. Methodology
In order to study the effect of unemployment of the head of the household in middle class families, the study was limited to those who had worked in an office, in administration, and professionals who were mainly affected by the restructuring during the economic crisis. Up until recently, these workers enjoyed relatively stable employment and consequently the anxiety or the sense of crisis felt by the family was presumed to have been greater.
In-depth interviews were conducted with office workers, administrators, and professionals as well as their wives to create case studies. The survey pool was selected by placing an interview announcement at the Seoul Stable Employment Center. The interviewees had to be married men in their thirties to forties with a wife and children, and had to have been office workers, administrators, or professionals before becoming unemployed, and they had to have been unemployed after November 1997. Including the preliminary study, a total of sixty-five in-depth interviews were conducted.
The interviews consisted of questions on how the interviewees had become unemployed, changes in their lives since becoming unemployed, changes in their spouses and other members of the family, social support and other general questions such as changes in family composition, total income before and after unemployment, living expenses, how they provided living expenses after becoming unemployed and their plans, as well as their housing situation. Additional questions consisted of family ties and family and social support.
Theoretical Background and Analytical Framework
1. Theoretical Argument
In today's society, the types of social difficulties that a family faces are closely related to the fluctuations and abuses of a market economy. Failure and deficiencies in the economic system can be a determinant factor threatening the well-being of an individual and the family. It has been found that the increase of unemployment resulting from employment instability can damage the health of the members of society and lead to alienation (Brenner, 1977).
Burgess (1947), a family sociologist, said that there are three types of crises that can lead to the break up of families: (1) changes in family status, (2) conflicts in the concepts of the family member's roles, and (3) loss of family members resulting from divorce, abandonment, separation, or death. Unemployment of the household head fits all three of the categories mentioned above (Moen, 1979).
However, unemployment of the household head leads, more than anything, to a rapid deterioration in the family's economic status. When the family lacks income over a period of time, it can lead to poverty, and with increased moves to search for jobs, the family faces more probability of breaking apart. Furthermore, when the head of the household becomes unemployed, it is up to the wife to take on the role of provider which leads to conflict between husband and wife.
With regard to the gender role between husband and wife, if the husband's role as provider is deeply ingrained according to patriarchal norms, the probability of conflict and tension the spouses is higher which can lead to the breakup of the couple through separation, running away, abandonment, or divorce. The unemployment of the household head can be a pretext for adolescent children to leave their homes because they want to be economically independent or to escape poverty. The other extreme case is when the parents can no longer afford the cost of rearing their children and end up abandoning them.
Unemployment can lead to families breaking apart. In order to understand the impact that unemployment has on a family, the family stress theory provides a theoretical foundation. Family stress can be defined as an incident or situation which creates an unstable environment making it difficult to maintain the existing family structure. Consequently, the family is faced with a tense psychological situation caused by the pressure due to the change (Lee, Sun-Yi, 1995). In this case, the incident or condition which causes family stress is called the stressor. According to the family stress theory, unemployment causes pain and tension for the family members and is the strongest stress factor which threatens the stability of the family (Moen, 1979).
However, not all families react in the same way to the unemployment stress factor. In other words, depending on family characteristics, unemployment can have different impacts. Numerous studies on unemployment have focused on family resources, perception and coping as well as the successful or unsuccessful experiences of the individual family members in their approach (Angell, 1936; Cavan and Ranch, 1938; Komarovasky, 1940; Caplovitz, 1981, Miller, et al., 1998; Clulow, 1995, Keefe, 1984; Turner 1995; Chermesh, 1975; Clark and Oswald, 1995; Smith, 1987; Leana and Feldman,1990; Winkelmann and Winkelmann, 1998; Nelson and Smith, 1998).
The numerous studies conducted in the 1930s regarding unemployment during the Great Depression provide an enormous source of information. The most widely read are the ones conducted by Angell (1936) and Cavan and Ranch (1938). Angell (1936) studied 50 families before and during the depression and reported that those families that had strong family ties maintained those relations within the families despite the economic hardships and were able to adapt to the crisis of unemployment. Cavan and Ranch (1938) studied the families of one hundred white workers, and they also found that those families with strong family ties were able to effectively overcome the crisis while those with weak family ties had a higher probability of breaking apart. They emphasized strong family ties and family stability as major factors in family continuity (Other studies on the impact of the depression on individuals and families include Walker, 1933; Mack, 1935; Lenroot, 1935; Zawadzki and Lazarsfeld, 1935; Conrad, 1936).
In the 1940s, several studies focused on unemployment caused by war and family relations. Komarovsky (1940) studied fifty-eight families and found that unemployment had a tendency to reduce the status of the husband, affected the relationship between the parents and children, and led to the husbands, economic and social instability and a decrease in social activities outside of the home.
More recently, Winkelmann and Winkelmann (1998) and Nelson and Smith (1998) reported on the impact that unemployment has on individuals, the family and on society as a whole and that this must be taken into consideration in the policy-making process. Winkelmann and Winkelmann (1998) felt that the non-monetary cost of the shock of unemployment was important because employment is not only a source of income but of social relations, social identity, and individual self-esteem. (For further information regarding the link between employment, job loss, and psychological well-being, refer to Feather, 1990, as well as Erikson, 1959; Jahoda, 1982; Rosenberg, 1965; Lane, 1991.) The non-monetary ramifications of unemployment can change the attitude of the unemployed toward work by dampening productivity. Even in the case of re-employment, the individual may continue to have low self-esteem. Having experienced helplessness and hopelessness, the individual continues to feel anxious. The socio-psychological legacy of unemployment affects the individual, and the family as well as the employer. Consequently, the non-monetary recovery from unemployment, that is measures to enable recovery from the socio-psychological damage, must be taken into account when devising policies (Darity and Goldsmith, 1996).
This current study, in particular, focused on the level of satisfaction (loss of income, income level before becoming unemployed and family status, and length of unemployment) in the lives of those who had become involuntarily unemployed between the ages of 30 and 49 and found that satisfaction dropped the most. This is of great significance for studies on unemployment and family troubles being conducted in Korea (For other studies which link the actual negative non-monetary results with unemployment refer to Darity and Goldsmith, 1996; Jensen and Smith, 1990; Junankar, 1991; Clark and Oswald, 1994; Bjorklund, 1985; Korpi, 1997; Goldsmith, et al. 1996).
Nelson and Smith (1998) studied the effect that economic restructuring has on the realignment of genders within the family and the division of housework. They divided the families into those that had a 'good job' and those that had a 'bad job' to see how they coped with difficult times. Unlike those with bad jobs, those with good jobs had a multi-faceted survival strategy, non-monetary interchanges with other families after a certain period, links with economic activities, and sharing of housework, thereby demonstrating that job characteristics and the ability of a family to adapt were related. Even if unemployment does not always and inevitably adversely affect individuals or the entire family, the above review of previous studies strongly indicates that the experience of unemployment carries a high risk of causing negative results. However, to say that the risk factors translate directly into the collapse of the middle class family, is a hasty conclusion. Families of the unemployed can face an economic crisis at the family level in different ways.
As the above mentioned studies indicate, the job loss of the household head is directly related to the survival of the family members, causing a change in the family structure. Faced with such a dire situation, the family members will resort to available internal and external resources to concentrate all their efforts to minimize the change. Coping is a response to defend against, avoid, or control conflict situations. There are social and psychological resources to cope with tension and conflict. The main coping mechanisms are, first, the response to change the situation; second, the response to understand the problem factor and control it; third, the response to help to manage tension and conflict (Pearlin and Schooler, 1978).
Traditionally, family tension or conflicts have been viewed as being dysfunctional to the family. However, recent views indicate that because the relationship between work and family life is complex, tension and conflict are rampant. Therefore, rather than overly emphasizing the conflict aspect of the family, by making an effort to understand the coping mechanism of the family or family members, it is possible to understand why certain families are better able to cope with tension and conflict compared to other families (Stanfield, 1996).
There are three questions regarding coping in family conflicts. First, in order to cope with conflicts which arise within the family, how do family members use the available resources within the family? Second, when there is a lot of tension or conflict, how does the family use outside resources in order to deal with such a situation? And third, are there differences in the use of internal and external coping strategies? In other words, when a problem arises within the family, the family acts as a resource in itself to resolve the problem. But outside resources (for example, social support systems, friends, neighbors, community groups, etc.) can help even when the family is coping well and is stable. Olson, McCubbin, and others (1983:136) emphasized the following in their research about coping with conflict in their theories. In order to cope with conflict, such efforts are, for the individual and the family, an on-going process. In order to reduce the effect on the conflict factors, there must be the ability to act, and lastly, the coping strategy must shift from an individual strategy to a family one. This shift opens a new area of research regarding how families cope with conflict (Reiss and Oliveri, 1980).
When faced with unemployment, there are different objectives that a family has in coping with the economic crisis. Among those objectives, the most widely pursued one is to maintain the household income at a level similar to the one before the unemployment occurred without any role change among the family members. In order to reach this objective, the family will momentarily concentrate all its available resources on minimizing the crisis situation which can have different results. The available resources can be divided into internal and external ones. Internal resources can include accumulated available assets and social competencies of individual family members. They range from economic resources, the democratic distribution of authority among family members, diffusion of existing conflicts, rational understanding of individual family members, socio-cultural factors, etc. The external resources range from national policies such as unemployment measures, access to banks, relatives, colleagues, and other groups.
However, as many previous studies have indicated, because of the weak structural support of Korean society, the actual external resources available to the unemployed are limited to relatives, colleague groups, and private support that serve as substitutes for public support.
2. Research and Analytical System
To summarize the theoretical arguments, first, Burgess and Moen reported that unemployment can have the following effects on the family: (1) a change in family status; (2) a role change within the family; and (3) loss and alienation of family members. Of these results, Komarovsky focused on the role structure between family members and changes in family relations as well as tension and conflict. Second, Winkelmann among others looked at the psychological and emotional impact that unemployment has on various family members and the non-monetary cost inflicted. Third, the family stress theory and coping theory provided an analytical framework to look at the dynamic process within the family structure following unemployment and its impact.
This study brings together the various theoretical perspectives referred to above to create a comprehensive analytical framework to study and analyze rather than to prove alternative theories. In other words, the aim was to see whether, even with only a few substantial, empirical studies, such theories
could be applied to concrete corroborative data. Therefore, the authors did not limit themselves to a single conceptual framework. For example, when there was a role change within the family as a result of job loss, Burgess views could be used to allow the fact that there was a structural change within the family. When using the coping theory, the same role change can be seen as a coping mechanism. Therefore this study and other corroborative data were collected, and from the perspective of investigating the actual condition, the two factors cannot be strictly distinguished.
Consequently, the overall structure of the report did not confine itself to one theory but rather selected different theories (most notably the coping theory) when interpreting the results by item. An analytical framework based on these different theories was used to emphasize the following important items.
First, when taking into consideration that depending on how family members perceive the stress situation of unemployment (economic shck) and its subsequent consequences, the actual pain and tension experienced differs, it is important to examine the economic and psychological aspects of the family members as well as family relations and role structure.
Second, the reserves available to the family as a unit which can be applied to the events and condition of unemployment are important. When the household head becomes unemployed, the family loses its main source of income. The family must resort to alternative economic resources (savings, income from other family members, etc.) or rely on the family's organizational characteristics (family ties and communication methods, etc.). For the unemployed family, these all become important resources which can be applied in a crisis situation. When taking into consideration the importance of economic resources, it is important to study the impact that unemployment has on families of all social strata.
Furthermore, through the employment of women who consequently become the main source of income, a change in the gender role structure within the family takes place, having great import on the change in the role of women. In addition, during a crisis, organizational characteristics such as family ties can be an important indicator of the family's stability. In turn, the break-up of families cannot be interpreted as simply a materialistic reaction to an economic crisis. This simply means that it is important to look at the quality of family relations over a period of time, that is to say, before and after unemployment.
Third, the role of social resources is important in enhancing the coping abilities of a family and to maintain family stability when faced with unemployment. Social resources include the support of a social network composed of relatives and neighbors of the unemployed family, community support and national policy support. This highlights the fact that unemployment is a problem related to social systems and structure and therefore must be handled through policies.
Changes in Family Life and in the Role of Women as a Result of Unemployment
1. General Characteristics of Subjects
The average age of the respondents was 38.11 years. There were 6 respondents in their twenties; 38 in their thirties; 14 in their forties; and 7 in their fifties. Those in their thirties and forties consisted of 78 percent of the total respondents. Because one of the criteria for selection was that they had to be professionals or office workers, 79 percent of the respondents had at least a junior college education (18.5 percent graduated from junior college and 61.5 percent from college). The average age of the wives of the
respondents was 34.98 years, and the proportion of high school and college graduates was similar.
The average number of family members was 3.74, including their children, 23.1 percent had three members, 52.3 percent four, that is, 75.4 percent were composed of nuclear families with parents and children. The average unemployment period of the respondents was 5.72 months. Of the respondents, 32.8 percent had been unemployed for four months, 31.2 percent for six to ten months. Most of the respondents did not quit their jobs but had been laid off because their company had gone bankrupt or as a result of corporate restructuring.
The following shows the actual effect that unemployment had on the respondent's families. For this study, the focus was placed on 56 case studies excluding those in the preliminary study, those who had become unemployed before the economic crisis and those who did not have children.
2. The Effects of Unemployment on the Family
A. Economic Aspect
The economic changes following unemployment and what they mean to the family are as follows.
First, out of the total 56 cases, 38 (76 percent) of the families depended on the salary of the respondent as their main source of income (including four cases where there was additional income to the salary). In 18 cases, the respondent's and the wife's salaries, that is, double income households, were the main sources of income. Regarding the source of income following unemployment, out of the total 56 cases, 20 families received unemployment allowance and only 6 families participated in public works. In 28 cases, the wife's salary, 27 cases of savings and cancellations, 7 cases of income from assets showed that there were families that had savings or income from investments made before unemployment. When the wife worked, the families had economic resources to fall back on. However in 7 cases, the families had debts and for 12 cases, the families received help from parents, siblings or relatives(The total is more than the 56 cases because there were multiple answer).
It is important to note that there were a number of cases in which the husband was laid off and the wife's salary became the main source of income. There were 13 cases in which the wife either began economic activities or showed an inclination to participate more vigorously after the husband was laid off. For those who were already working, that is, in 15 cases, other sources of income were considered to be sporadic and the wife's salary became the sole, permanent source of income. This indirectly demonstrates that in a crisis situation, the role of working wives is more important, as illustrated below:
※ The case of a housewife finding work:
Mr. S is currently 40, a college drop-out and has been married for 13 years. His wife is a high-school graduate. He has three sons: one in seventh grade, one in ninth grade, and a two-year old. Before he became unemployed, Mr. S's salary was about 1.95 million won per month which was spent in the following ways: 30 percent on living expenses, 20 percent on education, 20 percent on interest and 30 percent on miscellaneous items. Very little was saved. He worked as a department manager of an apparel distribution company. When the company faced financial difficulties, he had to leave the company since the company was firing from the top. It has been five months since he was laid off. The family is currently living on his wife's income. His wife works in apparel sales, and he does not receive an unemployment allowance. He plans to participate in the public works organized by the Labor Agency, but as to his plans afterwards, he is uncertain.
※ The case of a double-income family:
I am currently 41 years old and my monthly income before becoming unemployed was about 2.5 million won. I was a department manager in telecommunications. It has been 8 months since I was laid off. I have a wife and a 6-year-old daughter. Because my wife also works, we were able to save quite a lot, though we do have some interest to pay off. I still have to pay a 50 million won loan that I borrowed without my wife knowing. I'm paying it off with my unemployment benefits (my wife doesn't know this) and some money that I have. When the unemployment benefits dry up, I'll have to tell my wife about the loan. Then we'll have to sell our apartment to repay the loan. Right now, we're living on my wife's salary, and I'm trying to find a new job, but it's very difficult.
The respondents can be categorized into three groups: families that have reserve resources, families that do not have reserve resources, and families that have debts. If there are positive reserve resources, that is, if there are other sources of income besides the income of the household head, the family crisis caused by his or her unemployment can be alleviated somewhat. For double income families, when the wife's salary was a supplement to the husband's income before he was laid off, the husband could continue to look for work, receive training to find a new job, or invest in a new business. Furthermore, in order to offset the financial difficulties of the family, savings, cancellations or sale of real estate were ways that were used to maintain the economic level of the family. As a result, for many unemployed, the degree of economic difficulties felt by those laid off varied depending on the level of economic and socio-economic status before becoming unemployed.
Following unemployment, the most noticeable changes occurred in the housing and financial situation which the families tried to overcome by resolving economic problems, making plans to provide living expenses, making efforts to reduce consumption and finding new sources of income.
Housing and Financial Situation: As the chart below shows, 15 respondents were full owners of their homes. In 13 cases, they were still making monthly payments on the house, one family could lose its mortgaged house, and another family was in arrears in loan repayment. Twenty-two families were renting their homes and some who had been been refunded their rental key money were using it for living expenses.
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Housing Situation Number of Families
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Complete Ownership 15
Owned with Mortgage 1
Bought but in Arrears with Payment 1
Bought but Making House Payments as well as interest 13
Renting 22
Owned by Parents 2
No Response 2
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Total 56
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As can be seen in the following case, some families had difficulties due to the drop in real estate prices during the economic crisis. These families took out a loan to buy their house and had rented it. With the rise in interest rates and drop in rent, they were doubly affected. It is most probable that these families will continue to face difficulties linked to housing.
The rent of our home is 5.5 million won. We took out a loan to buy a 48-pyong apartment (which cost about 1.6 to 1.7 billion won at the time of purchase) which we rented out. The apartment was used as collateral to take out a 30 million won loan from the bank. The money was lent to a friend. We did not receive any interest and the friend disappeared after going bankrupt. The bank continues to pressure us to pay back the principal. The current price for the apartment is 90 million won. Even if we want to move, the house was used as fixed collateral for the bank loan and so the house cannot be rented and the current renters have filed a civil suit to demand the return of their rent money. Other financial losses or debts include a family which had been guarantor and had to put their house up for sale to cover the loss. Not many families had income from interest or assets and so few families lost assets.
However, there were many families that had to cancel their savings, insurance, and other investments in order to cover their living expenses. Some received help from relatives or took out loans, while others participated in public works or had to depend on their wives income. Ways to Resolve Economic Problems and to Cover Living Expenses:
As for ways to resolve economic problems and to cover living expenses, most respondents felt that the only way to resolve economic problems was to find a new job. Most of the respondents also answered that they wanted to find a job in the same line of work that they had left. In the case of one professional, he said that he had tried selling chicken skewers on the street but that the territoriality was too strong and that it was not profitable. He therefore quit and wants to go back to his old profession. In another case, a man tried selling pharmaceuticals, but is now in job training. The difficulties that the unemployed face shed some light on the problems that have to be surmounted when changing fields
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Way to Solve Economic Problems Number of Cases
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Find new job in related field 21
Change job or find new job in different field 6
Start new business 5
Cancel savings, severance pay 7
Public work 2
Vague and uncertain 19
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Total 56
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When there are problems finding a new job, the table below shows the different ways used to cover living expenses. Selling the house or moving to a smaller place was utilized in 8 cases, and opening a small business or farming in 9 cases. However, except for those who could depend on the wife's salary or who moved in with their parents, after a certain period of time, most faced an extremely uncertain situation. Out of 18 cases in which the wife had an income, only 3 families could live off the wife's income, indicating that among the unemployed, the husband's income was considered the foundation of the family’s income. Furthermore, in a few cases, the families moved in with the husband's or wife's parents or received help from them in order to overcome the crisis. Even if they were not living together, the link with the parents was a way to maintain family stability despite the husband's unemployment. However, without a fundamental measure to compensate for the income gap, extended unemployment can
rapidly lead to personal bankruptcy.
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Way to Cover Living Expenses Number of Cases
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Sell house/real estate 8
Small business, (selling fruit etc.), farming 9
Anything(work overseas, daily work, construction work, 7
newspaper delivery, driving etc.)
Savings, severance benefits, national pension 3
Wife's salary 3
Public work, unemployment loans, apply for extension 5
of unemployment benefits
Live with parents 3
No idea 2
No answer 16
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Total 56
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Reduction of Consumption Following Changes in Income: Faced with a crisis situation, families can reduce consumption as a way to deal with the change in income. With the accumulated usable assets, the standard of living can be maintained, but there must also be an active reduction of expenses and intentional buying of discounted products. In such ways, the family can adapt without any major problems even if there is some uncertainty. Regarding changes in consumption patterns after unemployment, almost all respondents said that they were keeping consumption to a minimum. They all responded that they were doing their utmost to reduce consumption, for example by using public transportation instead of private cars, walking short distances, not going out for meals, not buying electronic household goods, handing down clothes, economizing on electricity and water, etc.
Securing a New Income Source: As was seen above, after the husband became unemployed, in several cases, the wife's salary became the main source of income. Regardless of whether the income level was high or low, when the husband became unemployed after the family had depended on his salary as the sole source of income, the wife either began working or was strongly inclined to do so in a few cases, while in others the wife was already working which goes to show that the entry of women in the labor market is a new source of income. According to Kim Seung-Kwon (1998), in about 10.2 percent of families in which the husband was unemployed, the wives were working, and of these, 73.2 percent were double income families before the husband was laid off, and only 26.3 percent of the women found a job after the husband lost his job. This shows that the husband's unemployment spurs the housewives into finding different forms of employment.
B. Psychological Aspect
In general, during the process of unemployment, the psychological difficulties experienced begin with anxiety, uneasiness, and fear before being laid off, and once laid off, a loss of self-respect together with anger, embarrassment, and a sense of inferiority. When the period of unemployment is prolonged and compounded with repeated failures in finding a new job, the impact is conpounded, leading to a second depression. The man becomes despondent and loses all will to work and reacts by going through the psychological stages of denial → anxiety → anger, sense of betrayal → acceptance → depression, desperation (Vosler and Page-Adams, 1996; Kim Jae-Kap, et al., 1998). Most of the respondents in this study were found to have experienced these psychological stages up to the stage of depression and desperation. One example is a man who had worked twelve years for a leading ad company in Korea.
I was most anxious when I felt that I would lose my job. Then after I left my company, I could hardly contain my anger for about a week. As I thought about the past, I was overcome with a sense of shame. I was swept with a sense of anxiety about the future and felt sorry toward my children whom I worried might lose heart. However, as head of a household, responsible for its well being, I had to be courageous. The first courageous act was to apply for unemployment allowance. I also went to a place where other unemployed people gathered. However, I was very disappointed because there was only space provided for people to gather. There was no information to help those who had been laid off or counseling services. I gathered information and studied about all the different sort of businesses I could start, including a kimbap stand. Luckily, things are looking up because a new business related with what I used to do seems to be promising.
In order to ascertain the specific psychological states of the respondents, more detailed analysis was made of the reasons for being laid off, the responsibility for being laid off, and how the respondents felt about their current situation. Reasons and responsibility for being laid off: When asked about the reasons and responsibility for being laid off, some answered that it was because of their incompetence and physical defects, but most respondents answered that the reason was not their responsibility but that of the government, the chaebol, the company owners, employers, etc. and because their mistakes, the unemployed workers felt betrayed by the company for which they had worked so hard, as one explained.
The company overextended itself by expanding excessively. This ultimately led to problems in management and bankruptcy. Before the economic crisis broke out, the companies were overexpanding and their overdependence on loans led to faulty management which in turn resulted in bankruptcy, so management is responsible for laying me off.
Thoughts about unemployment: When asked about what they thought about their current situation, most answered that they were anxious and had misgivings. However, in many cases, others were quickly reconciled and accepted the fact that they had been laid off and were making efforts to improve their situation. However, in making those efforts, what most of the unemployed felt in common was anxiety and worry as a result of their surrounding conditions and situation. Some of their comments were: 'After being laid off,' 'I've become more irritable and am drinking more;' 'I want to look at this situation as an opportunity and a new challenge but the surrounding conditions and situation make it hard to stand firm;' and 'I'm so anxious and worried that I can't sleep at night.' Of those who had been unemployed for only a short period of time, only a few were despairing or desperate because they could not find a job. However, as repeated attempts to find a job failed and anxiety and uneasiness continued to mount, there was the possibility that as they began to lose confidence and experienced a second wave of desperation, stress would increase. One respondent said that after being unemployed for two months, thoughts of being a failure kept him awake every night. He felt as if he were the only one who had been laid off and so he could not ask anyone for help. He felt as if there was no hope, and he was extremely anxious. Another respondent said that, after being laid off, he had submitted his resume to over twenty places of employment, but he had not even passed the document screening phase. He tried to console himself by saying that it was a new challenge, but the feelings of desperation were too strong and he felt as though he was a failure. Another respondent said that he had been unemployed for eight months and was in his forties. His feelings of being a failure made him feel anxious. He lacked confidence and felt that he was very unlucky. The respondents all showed a large degree of psychological despondency, so efforts to build confidence and positive thinking are important.
C. Family Relations and Role Structure
In order to better understand the psychological impact of economic difficulties resulting from unemployment, family relations and role structure within the family can be studied. The reason for this is because the many factors which affect the psychological well being of a jobless person are related to the family and because economic difficulties are experienced indirectly via family relations. Through relations with the spouse and children, the level of family stress or family conflict as well as family environment can be judged. Therefore, from a positive perspective, the family tends to understand and adapt more quickly to the given situation, for example, reducing the size of the household or a full-time housewife aggressively entering the job market. The family members share in the pain of the father and husband being laid off and try to do their utmost to comfort and to be considerate.
However, as the unemployment period becomes prolonged, the children, unaccustomed to having their father stay at home, tend to avoid him, while the wife is under a lot of stress simply because the husband is staying at home all day. From the point of view of the husband, feeling unworthy because he is not fulfilling his previous role as provider for the family, tends to take on a very passive attitude in family matters. Family relations and the role structure were approached from behavioral role changes and from the psychological relationships among family members.
Behavioral role changes:
Sharing the responsibility of provider with a wife: coming from a patriarchal perspective, many household heads consider it natural that they are responsible for providing for the family. Nevertheless, they feel the burden of having to provide for the family alone. After being laid off, they hope that their wife will find a job or in the case of double income homes that their wife will continue to work, as related below.
“I can't come out and say it, but I wish my wife would take on the economic responsibilities. When I talked about our company's situation and when my salary became irregular, she caught on to what was happening. When I was receiving the unemployment allowance, I could tell that she thought that this wouldn't last long. But nowadays, she openly tells me to find a job. Currently my wife works at the dong (district) office as part of the public works program. She says that she wants to learn a skill so that she can continue working. I'd be happy to see her play a long-term economic role when I think about our retirement and other factors, I think that my friends who have a double income have it better than the single income homes.”
“My wife runs a kindergarten. I've provided for our family for 18 years and 3 months and reared the children, so I'm not overly burdened by the fact that my wife is working. I think I deserve a rest. My wife encourages me to start anew and does her utmost to boost my confidence.”
“We've had it rough because we didn't have enough to cover living expenses. My wife is working and covers the living expenses. She works in the accounting department of a distribution company. I’m really sorry that my wife has to work. I don't think that the husband and wife have to have separate financial responsibilities, Depending on the situation, the husband or wife can be responsible.”
As these cases show, the psychological inclination to depend economically on the spouse upon becoming unemployed is based on the fact that they feel that there is a possibility that they can overcome the crisis together with the family and that they have a strong psychological dependency on the spouse in particular.
Sharing household chores:
Regarding the degree of participation in and their thoughts about household work, there were varied answers with some of the respondents answering that even if the wife is working and providing for the family, household chores are the responsibility of the woman; for part of the time that the wife spends on economic activities, it is only natural that I spend some time on household chores so as to divide the roles; it's only natural that overall housework be done together; as part of the family, the husband and wife should take part together. Thus, it was found that compared to before becoming unemployed, the husband was spending more time on household chores. The reasons given were that it's only natural when we're at home; it's only natural that the one with more time should do it; my wife is tired after working, so it's unfair to leave it all to her; simply because I have more time. There was one respondent who after being laid off was doing all the household work. He washed the kids in the morning, fed them breakfast, took them to kindergarten and in the afternoon picked them up.
However, he said, "I'm doing something that I don't have to. Before, I would have gladly helped and would have been thanked for helping. Now, my wife takes it for granted that I do the housework and so there are times when I don't feel like doing it. After being laid off, the husband participated in housework and rearing the children not because there was a change in their awareness which led to a role change, but it was considered simply as helping the wife. In general, there was a change in the roles of the husband and wife within the family framework, but there was no change in their thoughts about their roles. This is probably because the unemployed regarded their situation as being temporary. If this is the case, the husband and wife will both need to readjust their roles to fit the situation should the unemployment be prolonged.
Increase in the wife's role and participation:
The respondents stated that regarding the role of family provider, the role of the husband and wife could change. There were also those who openly admitted that they wished that their wife would take on that responsibility. Therefore, this implies that the traditional gender role is not fixed but can change according to the situation.
In fact, different cases indicate that employment of women should be encouraged and increased so that they can play a more important role in the economy of the family, for example, the case when the family in which the wife's salary became the main source of income after the husband was laid off. Regardless of whether the income level was high or low, for families whose sole source of income was the husband's salary, the wife began to work or showed a strong interest in doing so after the husband lost his job.
In double income homes where the husband lost his job and when the household income is considered the major factor to maintain, the economic activity of the wife, despite the husband's unemployment, can provide actual help in running the household. If such income can help to handle economic difficulties, it can also prevent the breakup of families and solve difficulties.
This can provide the basis for the government to devise policies to encourage wives to engage in economic activities in order to maintain the stability of the families.
Changes in the psychological relations among family members:
Since most of the respondents had been laid off recently, they responded that they did not feel that there had been any major psychological changes. However, there were a few cases which indicated that there was some role conflict. In general, most respondents said that should the unemployment period be prolonged, they were very worried and anxious about providing for the family, indicating that there was a strong probability that this will lead to instability in the family.
Loss of authority as husband and father due to economic incompetence:
Many respondents said that economic incompetence and the loss of authority as husband were directly correlated. If the unemployment period is prolonged, conflicts in the family role based on the traditional patriarchal ideology can lead to substantial psychological pain. Among the responses, 'I can't state my position as strongly as I used to;' 'We talk less or not at all. It seems like I've lost my authority as head of the household;' 'My words have lost their strength and my authority has been weakened;' 'My kids think strange thoughts and have grudge-filled worries;' and 'Because my wife has pointed out my incompetence, my kids no longer recognize my authority and consider me an incompetent person.' The husband's loss of
authority extended even to his in-laws. Other responses included, since being laid off, we haven't made love; and if I continue to be unemployed, I think I'll lose confidence in our sex life because of the responsibility, indicating that there was a correlation between economic incompetence and sex life, as respondents reported.
The kids take pity on their father:
My wife doesn't think that she has to stay at home and thinks that it's all right to work outside the home,
still-but, I've started to think that it'll be impossible for me to find a new job. Since I've been laid off, we haven't made love once because I'm so preoccupied and everything is difficult. After meeting friends, my pride is hurt when they try to give me taxi fare.
There have been no changes in any way. But, if my wife puts pressure on me, and I become obsessed, I think I'd lose all will. I think I've lost some authority as husband. If this lasts long and there's more pressure, I think I'll lose my authority and I'll lose confidence in our sex life as well.
Weakened support between husband and wife:
Most of the respondents said that family ties as a family unit had not been weakened but that unemployment had had a negative effect on husband and wife relations. In fact, the first aspect to be affected by the husband's unemployment was husband and wife relations. Since unemployment translates into a loss of the husband's role as financial provider, the degree of adaptability and communication between husband and wife were closely related.
Regarding taking the lead in the home, there were those who felt that by losing economic competence, the leadership as head of the household passed over to the wife. For example, respondents said, as a man, I've lost my command and I feel like our life is no longer a patriarchal family but rather a matriarchal one. Since my wife is making money, she has a greater say.
There were other respondents who said that they spoke less with their wife since being laid off; before being laid off, the husband had had a bigger say but that since being laid off, the wife was managing everything; the wife had at first been composed but as time went by, she had become more irritable, calling the husband incompetent and was at a loss as to what to do. In this case, the wife was happy to stay at home but had no choice but to work and therefore was expressing the conflict she was feeling, also indicating that there was a weakening in the support between husband and wife. Also, in the case of a traditional gender role mentality where the husband works, while the wife stays at home is considered to be the norm, the fact that the husband has been laid off causing the full-time housewife to emerge as a new economic entity can be a source of stress for both husband and wife, as one husband explained.
My wife works as a saleslady at a department store. Whenever she sees friends or relatives there, she avoids them. If she does happen to meet them, she gets very upset when she comes home. And then, if the house isn't cleaned and everything is a mess when she comes home, she gets very angry, and sometimes my temper also flares. Not too many people know that I've been laid off and that my wife is working. My wife prefers to stay at home rather than work. I would also like to make my wife comfortable.
Increased emotional conflict and work for wives:
The wives tended to get angrier more easily, more irritable and fought more often, but there were
also those wives who did their utmost to build their husband's morale. Before, my husband wouldn't eat from the same side dishes more than twice in a meal, but now he just eats without saying anything. Before,
he was full of confidence, but now his spirits are down and it seems as if he's lost all his will. I don't know if it's because his pride has been hurt or whether it's because he's ashamed, but he avoids all contact with people in our neighborhood. I teach and encourage my kids to be even more polite than before so that their relationship with their father won't become awkward, but the kids just complain that they want their father to hurry up and get a new job. Since my husband has lost his confidence and feels discouraged at the slightest thing, I do my best to take care and think about his feelings before anything else.
In a lot of cases, the wives of the respondents felt that it was the woman's role to boost their husband's confidence, build his pride and protect him. This indicates that the emotional work of women increases as
they try to maintain the gender division of labor within the family. This can be another burden that the wives must bear as they face concrete economic difficulties in managing the household.
D. Outside Relations and Social Support
In order to examine the outside relations and social support of the respondents, the following relations among six categories of people were studied: (1) those with whom they had kept in close contact in general; (2) those with whom they could frankly talk about their worries and fears; (3) those who could advise them on solving or handling the problems they faced; (4) those who could provide material assistance if they asked for financial help; (5) those with whom they enjoyed spending time; and (6) those who could help them with daily chores. The result was that for all six categories, the first answer was always my wife. The runner up in all categories except for helping in daily chores, was a friend or a senior as someone they could talk to. For respondents, their wives, friends, and seniors were their basic support network.
Consequently, it can be said that the general social support network is very weak. Excluding friends and seniors, religious institutions, counseling services, work colleagues, neighbors, etc., do not play a very big role in supporting the family of the unemployed. This is in part because when problems arise in a family in Korea, the tendency is to look for solutions within the family, but it can also be said that the social support systems are insufficient.
Prospects for Strengthening and Stabilizing Family Ties and Changes in the Role of Women Within the Family
Based on this study, it is possible to consider the impact that the economy has on family ties by focusing on unemployment, quality of husband and wife relations, the economic role of women, and family ties and their link to stability.
The unemployment of the male head of the household translates into the loss of his role as the main economic provider and when the wife takes over his role, the roles of the husband and wife must be adjusted likewise. In other words, as the full-time housewife is transformed into the new provider for the family, the traditional gender role is challenged.
Furthermore, even for a double income marriage, when the wife takes on the role of main provider after the husband is laid off, the husband loses the authority that he had as household head in his relations with his wife and children. As a result, the previous roles within the family become blurred and have to be readjusted. The change in roles of the husband and wife influence the degree of adjustment and communication and are therefore closely related to the stability of the family.
After the husband becomes unemployed, tension within the family is heightened which in turn can aggravate husband-wife relations or can lead to the break up of the family. It is difficult to find accurate statistics, but the tension is closely correlated with the husband-wife relations before the economic crisis. In other words, depending on whether husband-wife relations were vertical, that is, orders were given by the husband and followed by the wife with the husband leading, horizontal with the husband and wife relating as friends, or reverse vertical, where even if the family depends on the husband's income, the wife has more influence over the husband, the husband's unemployment has a different impact on the family.
In the first example of a vertical relationship, that is, with the husband dominating over the wife in the raditional husband led relationship, the husband's unemployment leads to increased tension, can cause problems within the family, and the rate and intensity is stronger compared to other relationships. In such a family, the wife continues to consider the husband as the family's financial provider even after he has been laid off, is unable to adapt to the husband's loss of his role as head of the household or the role change within the family and therefore faces relatively more problems.
In the second example of a horizontal husband-wife relationship where the husband and wife are on an equal footing, the shock of unemployment is less than in the case of the more traditional husband-wife relationship, and the family tends to adapt much more quick | | |