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Why the Social Investment Approach is Not Enough – The Female Labour Market and Family Policy in the R epublic of K orea
Author(s) -
Lee Sophia Seungyoon,
Baek Seungho
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/spol.12091
Subject(s) - investment (military) , economics , parental leave , social policy , labour economics , demographic economics , work (physics) , political science , market economy , politics , law , mechanical engineering , engineering
Despite the gradual increase in the female labour market activity rate in most of the countries of the O rganisation for E conomic C o‐operation and D evelopment, the rate has been stagnant in the R epublic of K orea. The low female employment rate in K orea also reflects the withdrawal of a majority of women at the time of marriage or childbirth, resulting in an M ‐shaped pattern. The discourse on social investment attracted much attention from the K im D ae‐ J ung G overnment (1998–2003) and was more facilitated from the mid‐2000s towards the later period of the R oh M oo‐Hyun G overnment (2003–08). Against this background and along with a frantic focus on the low fertility rate from the mid‐2000s, the government has expanded expenditure on family policy. In this article, we analyze social investment policies related to female employment and discuss their effect on promoting K orean women to work. We first closely examine the K orean female labour market in three aspects: precarious employment pattern; career breaks; and under‐employment. Based on our policy analysis, we suggest that there is a mismatch in implemented policy and policy preference. Lastly, this article questions how effective social investment policies can be without a consideration of changes in job quality in the K orean female labour market.