Gender, Nonformal Learning, and Earnings in South Korea

ABSTRACT

Using data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, this study examined gender differences in participation in various forms of nonformal learning – on-the-job training, distance learning, workshops and private lessons – and their relationships with earnings in South Korea. The authors found significant gender differences in participation in on-the-job training, distance learning, and workshops favouring male workers, but the reverse gender gap in participation in private lessons favouring female workers. When it came to earnings, the authors found the positive relationships between participation in distance learning and earnings and between workshops and earnings for both males and females, even after controlling for other variables. However, the positive relationship between participation in on-the-job training and earnings was observed only for females. The authors highlight some unique aspects of Korea’s organisational culture that may help explain the relationships among gender, on-the-job training and earnings. Broader implications of the findings beyond South Korea are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• nonformal learning
• on-the-job training
• earnings
• South Korea

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. It is recommended to use all 10 plausible values simultaneously to generate correct standard errors (OECD 2013b), but prior analyses indicate little variability between the results generated from the combined use of the all plausible values and those generated from using plausible value one (Martin and Kelly 1997). Some prior studies using international achievement data relied on one plausible value, rather than using all plausible values (e.g. Byun, Schofer, and Kim [2012]; Hampden-Thompson and Pong [2005]). For the current study, we also report the results using the first of the 10 plausible values. Yet, we conducted analyses with each of the other nine plausible values and found few differences in the results across the 10 plausible values.

2. Chi-squared or t tests are usually used to examine the bivariate relationship among variables, but there is no consensus on how to combine Chi-squared or t test results across imputed data sets. Therefore, we used regression approaches to test differences.

3. Although it is important to examine what explains gender differences in earnings, it goes beyond the scope of our study because we are interested in how the relationship between nonformal learning and earnings differs by gender. Yet, we additionally conducted a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition (Jann 2008; Oaxaca 1973) analysis to investigate wage gaps by gender. We found that differences in endowments (i.e. gender) accounted for approximately 14% of the gender gap in earnings. We also found that gender differences in the hours of work, among other variables, were the most important reason for the gender gap in earnings. Detailed results from the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis are available from the authors upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [P2CHD041025];the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea [NRF-2017S1A3A2066878].