Family formation trends and patterns of women's work trajectories in South Korea: determinants and cohort differences

Figures & data

Figure 1. Sequence index plot for clusters of employment trajectories after first birth (KLIPS 1998–2019). Note: Cluster size (1) 30.21%, (2) 16.06%, (3) 14.84%, (4) 14.16%, (5) 14.08%, (6) 10.65%.

Table 1. Average number of years in different states in the eight years after first birth by clusters of employment trajectories and within cluster heterogeneity (entropy), (KLIPS 1998–2019).

Clusters	Regular job	Non-regular job	Self-employed	Unpaid family worker	Unemployed	Family/childcare	Total years	Entropy
Steady family/childcare	0.35	0.12	0.15	0.02	0.04	7.32	8	0.26
Steady regular job	8.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	8	0.00
Unsteady regular job	4.48	0.36	0.25	0.06	0.08	2.77	8	0.95
Steady family worker	0.01	0.00	0.00	7.96	0.01	0.03	8	0.02
Unsteady non-regular job	0.50	2.94	0.82	0.79	0.05	2.91	8	0.86
Steady self-employed	0.10	0.04	7.64	0.10	0.01	0.12	8	0.13

Figure 2. Percentage plot for clusters of employment trajectories after first birth (KLIPS 1998–2019). Note: Cluster size (1) 30.21%, (2) 16.06%, (3) 14.84%, (4) 14.16%, (5) 14.08%, (6) 10.65%.

Table 2. Average marginal effects (AME) obtained from multinomial logistic regression for the predicted probability of cluster membership (KILPS 1998–2019).

	Steady family/childcare	Steady regular job	Unsteady regular job	Steady family worker	Unsteady non-regular job	Steady self-employed
	AME(se)	AME(se)	AME(se)	AME(se)	AME(se)	AME(se)
Birth cohort (ref: 1940/49)
1950/59	−0.347**	0.090	0.203	0.013	0.034	0.007
	(0.169)	(0.077)	(0.170)	(0.014)	(0.041)	(0.013)
1960/69	−0.256***	−0.040	0.207***	0.008	0.053**	0.028
	(0.094)	(0.078)	(0.059)	(0.030)	(0.027)	(0.027)
1970/79	−0.287***	−0.008	0.144***	−0.008	0.106***	0.054
	(0.101)	(0.097)	(0.011)	(0.061)	(0.041)	(0.066)
1980/90	−0.331***	−0.006	0.120***	0.027	0.169**	0.021
	(0.121)	(0.115)	(0.028)	(0.073)	(0.072)	(0.054)
Education (ref: at least primary)
Lower/upper secondary	0.029 (0.122)	−0.019 (0.062)	0.018 (0.090)	−0.002 (0.012)	−0.023 (0.082)	−0.004 (0.020)
College/Vocational	−0.012 (0.124)	0.003 (0.064)	0.083 (0.093)	−0.001 (0.017)	−0.062 (0.084)	−0.011 (0.023)
Higher tertiary	−0.053	0.025	0.080	−0.008	−0.023	−0.022
	(0.124)	(0.064)	(0.092)	(0.018)	(0.085)	(0.023)
Previous job (ref: regular job)
Non-regular job	−0.045 (0.052)	−0.505*** (0.029)	−0.099* (0.053)	−0.014 (0.009)	0.690*** (0.064)	−0.028** (0.014)
Self-employed	−0.025	−0.505***	−0.175***	−0.010	0.024	0.690***
	(0.048)	(0.029)	(0.038)	(0.010)	(0.039)	(0.053)
Family worker	−0.086*	−0.505***	−0.107*	0.460***	0.253***	−0.014
	(0.046)	(0.029)	(0.060)	(0.062)	(0.071)	(0.019)
Inactive	0.306***	−0.385***	−0.096***	0.087	0.102***	−0.015
	(0.033)	(0.053)	(0.027)	(0.062)	(0.029)	(0.017)
Single at birth	−0.246*** (0.062)	0.233*** (0.055)	−0.028 (0.052)	0.019 (0.014)	0.012 (0.051)	0.010 (0.012)
Age at childbirth	−0.003 (0.005)	0.004 (0.003)	−0.008* (0.004)	0.001 (0.002)	0.003 (0.004)	0.003 (0.002)
Age at childbirth squared	−0.000 (0.000)	−0.000 (0.000)	0.000 (0.000)	−0.000 (0.000)	0.000 (0.000)	0.000 (0.000)
N	397	211	195	186	185	140

Note: *p < 0.10, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01, models also control for education of women’s mothers, year of sequence start and household residence at sequence start.

Figure 3. Sequence index plot for clusters of monthly employment trajectories 12 months before and 36 months after first birth (KLIPS 1998–2019). Note: The red line illustrates the month of first childbirth. Cluster size (1) 29.4%, (2) 23.5%, (3) 22.4%, (4) 11.5%, (5) 8.3%, (6) 4.9%.

Table A1. Descriptive statistics by women’s (non-)employment pathways (KLIPS 1998–2019).

	Steady family/child-care	Steady regular job	Unsteady regular job	Steady family worker	Unsteady non-regular job	Steady self-employed
Birth cohort
1940/49	0.50%	11.37%	0.00%	51.61%	7.03%	41.43%
1950/59	0.25%	22.27%	1.03%	32.26%	5.95%	22.86%
1960/69	8.06%	17.54%	13.33%	12.90%	15.68%	21.43%
1970/79	72.54%	41.71%	65.54%	2.15%	54.05%	13.57%
1980/90	18.64%	7.11%	20.00%	1.08%	17.30%	0.71%
Education
At least primary	0.76%	5.21%	0.51%	62.37%	10.81%	45.00%
Lower/upper secondary	41.81%	27.96%	26.15%	31.72%	44.86%	37.14%
College/vocational	27.20%	20.38%	29.74%	2.69%	15.68%	5.00%
Higher tertiary	30.23%	46.45%	43.59%	3.23%	28.65%	12.86%
Previous job Regular job	12.59%	95.73%	46.67%	1.61%	12.43%	4.29%
Non-regular job	1.01%	0.00%	3.59%	0.00%	24.86%	0.00%
Self-employed	1.51%	0.00%	1.54%	0.54%	3.24%	92.86%
Family worker	0.50%	0.00%	2.05%	96.77%	8.11%	1.43%
Inactive	84.38%	4.27%	46.15%	1.08%	51.35%	1.43%
Single motherhood
Yes	0.25%	40.28%	3.08%	48.92%	12.97%	35.00%
Age at childbirth
Mean (SD)	29.35 (3.65)	27.79 (3.68)	28.86 (3.49)	23.72 (3.23)	28.10 (4.25)	26.07 (5.08)
Mother’s education
No degree	7.56%	22.75%	8.21%	77.96%	24.86%	65.71%
Primary	35.01%	38.39%	37.95%	16.67%	37.84%	16.43%
Middle school	28.46%	18.96%	25.13%	3.23%	21.08%	8.57%
At least high school	28.97%	19.91%	28.72%	2.15%	16.22%	9.29%
Year sequence start
Mean (SD)	2005.78 (4.82)	1994.29 (12.78)	2004.92 (5.60)	1975.56 (10.26)	1999.83 (12.06)	1981.93 (14.33)
Residence sequence start
Seoul capital area	37.78%	44.55%	46.15%	22.04%	35.68%	30.71%
Other metropolitan area	20.65%	21.33%	21.03%	17.74%	15.14%	19.29%
Provinces	41.56%	34.12%	32.82%	60.22%	49.19%	50.00%
Number of kids^a
Mean (SD)	1.97 (0.66)	1.77 (0.65)	1.84 (0.59)	1.66 (0.98)	1.96 (0.62)	1.63 (0.67)
Total N %	397 30.21	211 16.06	195 14.84	186 14.16	185 14.08	140 10.65

^a Not included in the analysis, measured at final observation period (year 8), only available for respondents who’s employment trajectory is not measured retrospectively (N = 859).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Korean Labor Institute. Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for this study. Data supporting the findings of this study are available from the authors with the permission of the Korean Labor Institute.