A new direction in the welfare-work nexus in South Korea

Abstract

South Korea has been experiencing unemployment and poverty against the backdrop of globalization. The 1990s were a turning point in South Korea's economic and welfare policies, as the government introduced active labour market policies to create jobs and social policies to supplement the labour initiatives. This three-pronged approach is indicative of the South Korean government's strategy to link welfare programmes and labour market policies through the Employment Insurance, the National Basic Livelihood Security Program and Earned Income Tax Credit. In this article, we examine the welfare-work nexus in South Korea. We analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the welfare-work nexus in South Korea and offer suggestions for the future.

Keywords:

• welfare-work nexus
• active labour market policy
• National Basic Livelihood Security Program
• Employment Insurance
• Earned Income Tax Credit

Notes

1. External-numerical flexibility: the ease of hiring and firing workers and the use of flexible forms of labour contracts; internal-numerical flexibility: the ability of companies to meet market fluctuations (e.g., via overtime, flexi-time, part-time, temporary work, casual work or subcontracting); functional flexibility: the ability of firms to adjust and deploy the skills of their employees to match changing working task requirements; and payment or wage flexibility: the ability to introduce variable pay based on performance or results (Viebrock and Clasen 2009).

2. Job security: the certainty of retaining a specific job (with the same employer), for example, via employment protection legislation; employment security: the certainty of remaining in paid work (but not necessarily in the same job or with the same employer), for example, via training and education (and high levels of employment); income security: the certainty of receiving adequate and stable levels of income in the event that paid work is interrupted or terminated and combination security: the reliance on being able to combine work with other – notably family – responsibilities and commitments, often discussed under the heading of ‘work-life balance’ (Viebrock and Clasen 2009).