Women’s Employment in Korea and the US: Effects of Education, Children, and Husbands

• In Event: 20414 - Women's Labor Supply, Maintenance, Exit, and Consequences in Family

Abstract

Past research shows that women experience a wage penalty for motherhood, and for working in a female-dominated job. But scholars of gender inequality often ignore the fact that when factors impede women from being employed at all, this constitutes a much larger earnings penalty than factors affecting wage rates. Because of the importance of women’s employment to their well-being, it is important to study the determinants of employment. Focusing on Korea and the US, we examine the effects on women’s employment of education, children, marital status, and, for married women, of husbands’ education. In a novel contribution, we also explore how women’s education interacts with these family-related factors. We find that in Korea, women’s employment is reduced by being a mother, but having more than one child brings no additional penalty, and the child penalty is seen only in higher education groups. In the US, each additional child decreases the probability of employment, except among those with less than high school. In both countries, women with more education are more likely to be employed, probably because they can get better jobs. However, the Korean educational gradient is much less steep than the gradient in the US; the most educated mothers in Korea have fairly low levels of employment relative to either well-educated Korean nonmothers or US well-educated mothers. Marriage also impedes employment more in Korea than in the US. Before the ASA, we will extend the analysis in several directions.

Authors

• Paula S England, New York University-Abu Dhabi

• Wonjeong Jeong, New York University Abu Dhabi