Labor Market Transitions for Young Adults in Korea in a Comparative Perspective: The Roles of Gender and Education

Gary Sandefur, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Hyunjoon Park, University of Wisconsin at Madison

Using the data from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS), we first present summary data on labor market activities among Korean young adults such as number of jobs held, years of work experience, time spent on current job and time spent on longest job by education and gender. Using the published data for American young workers, we highlight distinctive features of each labor market. We then present hazard models of movement out of the first job separately considering voluntary and involuntary moves. We identify which demographic groups have higher rates of job separation and examine the extent to which individual resources and job characteristics as well as employment history affect job stability. Special focus is on the extent to which educational attainment and gender affect career establishment, given that previous literature has shown the distinctive pattern of linkage between education and labor market outcomes among Korean women.