Abstract
Numerous studies have indicated that the quality of employment available to young adults when entering the labor market determines their future career paths. In particular, young adults who grew up in poverty are at greater risk, as they tend to be less competitive than their peers in the job market. However, only a few studies have explored the role of the length of poverty exposure and gender difference in this relationship. Thus, this study examines the impact of the duration of childhood poverty (1–14th waves) on both employment status (employed vs. unemployed) and type (regular vs. non-regular workers) in the early years of labor market participation among young adults in South Korea. Data from young adults aged 25–34 years (N = 595) from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Survey (KLIPS, Korean Labor Institute; 22nd wave) were analyzed for this study. The results showed a gendered effect on the relationship between the duration of childhood poverty and employment type. The duration of childhood poverty showed no association with the young South Korean's ability to procure jobs. However, it was associated with female participants’ employment type. This indicates that women with a longer duration in childhood poverty have more difficulties in obtaining a decent job. Therefore, develo** gender-sensitive intervention policies that focus on providing equal education opportunities and facilitating a smooth school-to-work transition may ameliorate the intergenerational transmission of poverty.
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Notes
The 1997 South Korean Economic Crisis is attributed to the decrease in South Korea’s international creditworthiness, which resulted in the suspension of foreign debt extension (Lee, 2000). As the South Korean national economy faced bankruptcy, President Kim, Young-Sam applied for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the IMF regime began on December 3, 1997 (and lasted until August 23, 2001).
Non-regular workers in the Korean context include contingent workers and day laborers who work for daily wages.
Applied currency: October 25, 2022, 8:23 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).
The duration in poverty was studied in three groups, including the non-poor, short-term poor, and long-term poor groups, based on the household’s ratio in poverty in childhood.
Including college (of three years or less) and university graduates.
Definition of unemployed (KLIPS’ User’s guide):
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A person aged 15 or over, who is out of work, but has been actively seeking a job during the past week and was available to work if offered a job.
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Or is not seeking employment within the past week but has sought a job at some time during the last month and was available to work for the past week if an appropriate job was offered.
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\(\frac{\mathrm{Household\ Income}}{\sqrt{\mathrm{Number\ of\ household\ members}}}\)
Gyeonggi-do (province) is the second most populous region after Seoul. Approximately 12 million people live in Gyeonggi-do (Statistics Korea, 2021c).
Only 22.4% of working individuals transitioned from being non-regular workers to regular workers after three years of comparison. In other countries, the rate of transfer for the same period was 61.3% in Denmark, 60% in Germany, 71.4% in Belgium, 45.3% in France, 63.4% in England, 46.0% in Spain, and 24.9% in Japan (Yang, 2020).
The Dream Start program was launched in South Korea to reduce the impact of poverty on children’s development. Dream Start, operational since 2007, is a benchmark program of Head Start (U.S.) and Sure Start (U.K.) (Lee, 2017). It aims to support children’s healthy growth and development by providing customized integrated services to children in poverty and other vulnerable groups of children to ensure that they have fair opportunities as South Korean citizens (Dream Start Website, 2021).
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This work was supported by the Yonsei University Research Grant of 2020 (Grant numbers: 2020–22-0442).
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Choi, H., Nam, B. Gender Disparities in Childhood Poverty and Employment Quality among Young Adult Workers in South Korea. Applied Research Quality Life 18, 1167–1188 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-022-10122-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-022-10122-3