It’s More Than an M-shape: The Political Economy of Female Non-Standard Workers in the Republic of Korea

초록

This study examines the re-entrance of female workers into the Korean labor market. We highlightthat women in their 40s have the highest rate of employment among all female workers and that alarge proportion of these women are entering into non-standard employment. In approaching thisquestion, we examine the political economy of this phenomenon by first discussing the demand sideof the Korean labor market using the gendering of the varieties of capitalism argument and thenthe supply side with the work–life balance argument. When examining re-entrance into the labormarket, women with general skills with lower education and higher education both found it morefeasible to re-enter the labor market as non-standard workers. While work–life balance is a prominentreason for women’s choice of opting out of the labor market, work–life balance choice matteredless for women re-entering the labor market as non-standard workers in their 40s and 50s butinstead firmly based skill formation mattered more. In addition, the retail service industry is suggestedto absorb a large number of female workers with lower skill levels who would have had difficultiesin re-entering other male-oriented companies.

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