[vol.9] Feature_ Current employment education and Skill training for women
WORKING WOMAN 2008. 3. 20. 11:06| Last November the Korean Women Workers Associations United (KWWAU) and the Korean Women Research Institute jointly held a forum with the theme, "How can we expand employment education and training for women?"
In light of this theme there were three main topics: changes in employment division by gender; current employment education and training of women; and employment prospects for trainees. This article will focus on the topic of employment education and training for women. |
The employment training system in Korea was introduced in 1967, in the early industrialization process, with the purpose of expanding the insufficient labour force. An "Employment Training Law" was established and put into practice.
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The Job training system and related organizations
- Employment training within industries
Employment training within industries is conducted by industries themselves. It is provided as required by each company. Since the Employment Insurance System was established on July 1, 1995, the limit on training centers has been reduced. Only businesses with over 1,000 workers can conduct training.
The contents of the training programmes are related to the company's needs and concentrate on simple skills in order to supply the company's demands. If the company does not run a training course, it has to pay a training tax. The trainees receive a certain amount of training allowance but the company has no responsibility for recruiting the trainees. Finding employment is up to the trainees themselves.
- Employment training authorized by the Ministry of Labour
Employment training authorized by the Ministry of Labour is conducted by corporations or individuals for divisions which cannot be handled by the public employment training course or employment training within industries. The main programmes are for the office administration and service divisions. There are 139 training centers nation-wide. Of these, 91 centers are for women (in 71 divisions with a total of 6,520 women).
- Policy changes in Job and Skill training and its effect on women
In order to consolidate the fundamental direction of new labour policies, which arose in early 1992, the employment insurance system was introduced and revision of the employment training system occurred.
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New labour policy and women
- Employment insurance and women
The employment insurance system took effect from July 1st, 1995 in Korea. The unemployment allowance is applicable to companies with over 30 employees and employment security is only applicable to companies with over 70 employees. It covers about 10% of female workers, but the majority of female workers are excluded from its application.
In the case of industrial training, it is only applicable to companies with over 70 employees which is further evidence that about 90% of female workers are excluded. In other words, female workers are excluded from opportunities of being trained for the development and improvement of their skills, and they are far from being a part of the core labour power. They are consciously, systematically, and practically very close to the possibility of being a marginal labour power in Korea.
- The new directions of the training system of the Korean Manpower Agency and women
The technology schools plan to train multi-technical workers focussing on new techniques and leading industries, to improve the techniques of the present employees, and to expand short term employment training for housewives and senior citizens. It means that the ratio of employment training will be reduced to 43.0% by 1998 (in 1994 it was 77.7%) but retraining courses will be increased to 57.0% from 22.3%.
From a women's standpoint, the decrease in employment training is not good. Because the new labour policy and employment insurance system have been introduced by employers under the name of strengthening competition, it is hard to expect expansion of employment training by private enterprises.
Under the economic situation of the early 1990s, the new labour policy advocated that expanding industries should increase functional flexibility and declining industries such as clothing, textile, and rubber shoes should increase flexibility in wages and production quotas.
As a result, workers in heavy industries such as iron and steel, petrochemical, electrical and electronics, who are mostly men, became the core labour group, while female workers in declining industries, which were targeted for increasing flexibility in wages and production quotas, became non-skilled and marginalized, experiencing unstable wages and employment insecurity.
If the new labour policy based upon increasing the flexibility of the labour market continues, there is a high possibility of producing a gender division of labour which results in the conception that, "male workers = core working power, female workers = marginal working power".
- Employment insurance and women
- Current employment training for women
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Comparative research on four countries of South East Asia
- Technician training favours men
Since 1988 less than 20% of all technicians are women. Women account for 7% of public employment training, 24% of employment training within industries, and 25% of the employment training authorized by the Ministry of Labour.
Public employment training is therefore the lowest compared with other forms of training for training female technicians.
- The gender division by occupation
Even though the kinds of training programmes have been increased, the training courses which women can attend are still very limited and there is a clear gender discriminatory structure. Trainees in the car, machine, and metal industries. are mostly men, and trainees in the textile, shoe, cosmetics industries. are mostly women.
- Majority of trainers are men
In the case of the Korean Manpower Agency, as at August 1996, about 95% of the trainers were men and at the employment training centers authorized by the Ministry of Labour, about 80% of the trainers were men. For a majority of the training courses, the trainees spend most of their time with the trainers since most of them stay in the dormitory with their trainers. It means that the gender distinction of the trainers definitely has a big educational effect on the trainees.
- Employment opportunities for trainees
There is little difference in employment opportunities according to each kind of training form. In the case of trainees from public corporations, 93% in 1994, 87% in 1995, and 84% in 1996 of male trainees found employment which shows the employment rate is slowly declining. However, in the case of female trainees from public corporations, almost 100% found employment (99.9% in 1994, 99.8% in 1995, and 97.7% in 1996).
In terms of the number of trainees, male trainees comprise about 90% of the total. However, the rate of women employment is slightly higher than that of men. From the standpoint of company size, about 60% of the trainees were employed by the companies with 150 - 300 workers in 1993. From 1991 to 1995, 60% of the trainees were employed by small to medium sized companies with 11 - 149 workers. Regarding wages, the average base salary of a trainee from a public corporation in 1995 is about 475,000Won (US$600).
According to research on "The distribution of employment training", which was conducted by the ILO in Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Manila in 1995, the ratio of non-trained female workers for technical and vocational training in Korea is the highest with 89.5%. There is a wide gap between men and women receiving official and unofficial training. The women's training ratio is about 30 - 40% of men.
The House for Working Women was set up for married working women who cannot afford to attend formal training courses. At present, the Ministry of Labour entrusts private organizations with the operation of the House for Working Women. Three houses have been set up every year since 1993, and there are 12 houses at present. It is planned to set up five more houses in 1997.
The major subjects of the training programmes are office administration, reading guides, making traditional dresses, maternity nursing, cooking, and papering walls and ceilings, which are short term courses which can make it easier for a married women to find related employment. The employment rate of the trainees from the House for Working Women was about 49.9% in 1995.
There is a wide gap in the employment rate according to regions.
- Technician training favours men
Under this system employment training organizations in Korea are divided into public employment training, employment training within industries, and employment training authorized by the Ministry of Labour.
- ▲In the case of industrial training, it is only applicable to companies with over 70 employees which is further evidence that about 90% of female workers are excluded.
The public employment training
The public employment training is undertaken by the government, local councils, or other public organizations such as the Korean Manpower Agency, the Korean Conference of Commerce and Industries, and the Korean Employment
Promotion Agency for the Disabled.
The Korean Manpower Agency is a representative employment training organization which has 25 professional schools which train technicians, and 16 technical schools where chief technicians and multi-skilled technicians are trained. Employment training by government organizations is under the control of the Ministry of Law.
There are 38 employment training centers for prisoners run by the government. Local councils operate 9 employment training centers. Amongst these public employment training centers, there are 46 centers for women. At present, 2,663 women are being trained for 56 kinds of employment.
The public training centers concentrate on education that can not be conducted by private or ordinary companies. They provide training for advanced techniques, newly demanded job skills, and skills required by export industries.
The period of training, between six months and three years, is longer than other employment training centers. Furthermore they are supported by public funds, and the trainees do not have to pay any fees. The training centers are also responsible for the arrangement of employment and have a follow-up system for their graduates.