Effects of Irregular Work on Varying Types of Satisfaction in South Korea

• In Event: 4367 - Section on Asia and Asian America Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 2. Economic Sociology

Abstract

In recent decades, South Korea has witnessed a noticeable increase in the percentage of its work force holding irregular work positions. Literature has shown that work of this nature can decrease workers’ levels of satisfaction in life. Although, less is known about the variation between different types of irregular work in how their effects vary across specific measures of satisfaction. To investigate the correlation between irregular work and satisfaction in South Korea, this study uses 2001-2015 data from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS). I use the “Blow-up and Cluster” (BUC) estimator to produce four models for varying types of satisfaction, including satisfaction with family, leisure activities, household income and overall satisfaction. My results show that irregular workers are predicted to have lower levels of satisfaction with leisure activities, household income and overall satisfaction. However, regular and irregular workers are found to have similar levels of satisfaction with family. These findings support previous findings that irregular workers are generally less satisfied than regular workers. However, a notable finding of this study is that regular workers are not predicted to have higher levels of satisfaction with family. Also, given variations found between irregular work categories, the results of this study should encourage researchers to assess irregular work types separately.

Author

• Wyatt Schmitz