abstract: 'Theories of precarious employment based on the constructs of job quality

  and job stability have highlighted the issue of transitions, linked to

  gender and age, from long-duration employment in bad-quality jobs, into

  good-quality stable employment. This article uses Markov chain analysis

  to study the labour market transitions of South Korean women in

  different age groups. It shows the importance of differentiating the

  effects of contemporary labour market conditions, shaped by the forces

  of the moment, from conditions created by the institutional legacy of

  the past. Women''s traditional position in the labour market has resulted

  in age-linked gendered precariousness, while the conditions of the

  moment are generating a tendency towards less precarious employment.

  Transition matrices are developed for types of precarious employment

  defined by the combination of job stability and job quality, taking into

  account duration by age group, time period, and covariates. These

  matrices yield distributions of asymptotic prevalence, reflecting labour

  market conditions of the moment. The forces of the moment favour the

  predominance of stable good-quality employment, whereas observed

  prevalence at a given date is characterised by the polarisation of the

  labour market between stable good-quality and unstable bad-quality

  employment. Asymptotic prevalence reveals a steady increase in stable

  but bad-quality employment. Older women are observed mostly in unstable

  bad-quality employment, but labour market conditions are tending to

  attenuate this age cleavage over time, as the conditions of the moment

  are reducing the proportions of older women in stable bad-quality and

  unstable good-quality employment. The conclusion is an age-based

  polarisation, in which older women are faring badly, but where

  possibilities are now opening up to younger South Korean women,

  reflected in the sharp break between the situation inherited from the

  past and the conditions of the moment. But possibilities for younger

  women will be realised only through a reinforcement of government

  policies to support career breaks and work-family balance through decent

  part-time jobs. JEL Codes: J08, J28, J44'
affiliation: 'Kim, Y (Corresponding Author), Catholic Univ Louvain, Ctr Rech Demog,
  1 Pl Montesquieu Bte L2-08-03, B-1348 Louvain La Neuve, Belgium.

  Bonneuil, Noel, Sch Adv Studies Social Sci, Paris, France.

  Bonneuil, Noel, French Natl Inst Demog Studies, Paris, France.

  Kim, Younga, Catholic Univ Louvain, Louvain La Neuve, Belgium.'
author: Bonneuil, Noel and Kim, Younga
author-email: youngakim@ymail.com
author_list:
- family: Bonneuil
  given: Noel
- family: Kim
  given: Younga
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1177/1035304617690482
eissn: 1838-2673
files: []
issn: 1035-3046
journal: ECONOMIC AND LABOUR RELATIONS REVIEW
keywords: 'Asymptotic prevalence; employment stability; inequality;

  intergenerational polarisation; job quality; labour market polarisation;

  Markov chain; precarious employment; quality of employment'
keywords-plus: NONSTANDARD EMPLOYMENT; ECONOMIC-CRISIS; BAD JOBS; WORK; GENDER; MODELS
language: English
month: MAR
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '56'
orcid-numbers: Kim, Younga/0000-0001-8108-4880
pages: 20-40
papis_id: adda39f476f290bce44128646cea54da
ref: Bonneuil2017precariousemployment
times-cited: '7'
title: 'Precarious employment among South Korean women: Is inequality changing with
  time?'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000395351400002
usage-count-last-180-days: '4'
usage-count-since-2013: '26'
volume: '28'
web-of-science-categories: Economics; Industrial Relations \& Labor
year: '2017'