[Commentary] Part­Time Jobs, 'Coercion' in the Disguise of 'Preference' (Feb. 22, 2017)

   Yesterday, Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family issued a news release under the title, 'Women's career breaks decreased with the increase of part­time jobs, the most preferred job type for the unemployed women'. It was based on their 2016 survey on the economic activity of 4,835 Korean women aged 25 to 54. 

   The survey shows that most unemployed Korean women prefer part­time jobs, which they find relatively easy to mange with their other work at home, such as caring and educating young children, doing house chores, and taking care of other family members. This means in Korean society, care work at home is believed as the job only for women, which makes Korean women fettered by lots of responsibilities at home. They want part­time jobs because they need to make ends meet while doing care work as their primary job. This is reality for many unemployed women in Korea. 

   Although it is well known that the working conditions of part­time jobs are poor, Korean government keeps cornering Korean women into such low quality jobs. The average monthly wage for the part­timers in Korea is 740,000 Korean won (approximately 660 US dollars). This places 24.8% of the part­time workers directly under the influence of the minimum wage, which is at the highest level among the all non­regular workers in Korea. In Korea, the ratio of the part­timers who are being given pension and overtime pay is only 16.6% and 11.1%, respectively. Those who can enjoy their paid vacation comprise 9.2% among the part­time workers, while only 15.3% of them are being covered by the national pension plan. Their average years of service is 1.7, and the ratio of the unionized workers is only 0.6%. 29.5% of them belong to the company with less than five employees, known as the most vulnerable workplace to the exploitation of labor. 

   Unlike their propaganda, Korean government failed to create the 'decent part­time jobs', which did not really exist in Korean society. In the name of their efforts to create 'decent part­time jobs' at the public sector, many full­time jobs were changed to the part­time positions while some were even fired for the expiration of  employment contract. These par­time jobs are dead­end jobs, as they do not guarantee any possibility of being given more professional tasks or promoted in the future. However, these low quality jobs are being called 'jobs for the women' by the Korean government. Already 20% of women workers are now working part­time, while the number of part­time jobs has continuously increased during the last nine years of conservative governments. 

   This cannot be called a 'free choice'. It is not even a 'preference'. This is nothing but 'coercion' as many unemployed Korean women have nowhere to go except these low quality part­time jobs. What the government should do is to help change the social system in which society and other family members share care work at home. It could be the worst abrogation of responsibility if we do nothing but burdening women alone with all the care responsibilities at home. Korean government should not cover up the reality in which many women are 'forced' to work part­time because of their burden of care responsibilities. What they really want is a job where they can use and develop their own talent expecting  better future. What is needed for them is a social system where they can share their care responsibilities with the other family members  and society especially when re­employed, as well as a social policy which helps prevent women from experiencing career breaks due to their burden of care work, but not so­called 'decent part time jobs' that do not exist in reality.

Feb. 22, 2017

Korean Women Workers Association