Colloquium in Sept. 2018
Yoon, Jayoung (Professor, Dept. of Economics at Chungnam National Univ.)
This study analyzes how women workers’ status in the labor market is associated with their access to childbirth and childcare leave, based on Korean Labor and Income Panel Study data. According to the analysis, the lower women workers’ income level, the less likely they are to use childbirth and childcare leave and to keep their jobs after the leave. Similarly, women workers in the large firms (with more than 300 employees) are more likely to use childcare leave after childbirth leave, compared to those in the small-to-medium firms. This study points out that inequalities within the women workers lead to their unequal access to childbirth and childcare leave, which makes women workers with vulnerable positions more likely experience career breaks, and thereby further increases inequalities among the women workers. In order to help more women workers use childbirth and childcare leave, this study argues, the government should pay more attention to the inferior working conditions of the non-regular women workers or those in the small firms who are eligible for the leave but can not use it in reality.
