The first-year study explored the way in which workers' compensations (wages) are determined in Korea. We analyzed statistical data and pursued in-depth studies on various private-sector labor markets. The statistical analysis, first, pays attention t ...
The first-year study explored the way in which workers' compensations (wages) are determined in Korea. We analyzed statistical data and pursued in-depth studies on various private-sector labor markets. The statistical analysis, first, pays attention to the whole Korean labor market and examines wage differentials according to sex, education, employment type, and unions. The second statistical analysis examines low-waged labor markets and attempts to identify important factors to determine wages in these labor markets. The third statistical analysis explores the Korean workers' perception of just distribution of pay using survey data generated by us. The fourth analysis attempts to explore wage determination in the public sector(public administrative sector and public enterprise). Our in-depth studies examine wage determinations in the private sector. We included three different types of labor markets, that is, formal sector, informal sector, and occupational sector. Main findings for the first-year study are as follows. First, previous wage systems and customs have been kept although there has been much debate about wage systems. Second, there are different wage determination mechanisms in different types of labor markets, and the wage determination mechanism works differently, for instance, according to industries and wage classes. Third, social networks play important roles especially in the wage determination of the secondary labor market. Fourth, social, cultural norms and customs significantly influence wage determination. Fifth, Korean labor unions have not contributed much to wage equality, not representing the working-class as a whole.
The second-year study attempted to examine wage systems and wage determinations in advanced industrialized countries, which would contribute to deepening our comparative views. We examined specific subjects such as wage systems, collective wage bargaining systems, and issues of pay equity, paying attention to the differences among various types of market economies. Some important findings of the second-year study are following. First, the United States and Germany have the similar wage system based on job evaluation, whereas the wage system works very differently in each country. Broadly speaking, this wage system (wages based on job evaluation) in the United States works much more favorably for employers or companies rather than for workers, whereas industrial labor unions are one among the most influential players in shaping the wage system in Germany. Therefore, there is much higher wage inequality in the United States than in Germany. Second, we found that wage systems have not changed significantly nor have they converged to the model of the liberal market economy. Although there is some evidence that the collective wage bargaining system in Germany had been decentralized, the actual difference of the wage system between two countries has been still large. Third, we did not find strong evidences to show that the Japanese seniority-based wage system has changed to the performance-based wage system, although there has been much effort to change the seniority-based wage system. Fourth, the public sector in Sweden has been also influenced by globalization and marketization. We found that in Sweden the collective wage bargaining system has been decentralized and the wage system has been flexible and individualized. But at the same time, we found that social partners in Sweden, that is, employers and labor unions tried to institutionalize the stability of wage system. In this broad context, it is interesting to see that unions in the public sector have tried to find the way of reducing gender wage inequality. Unions played a critical role in advancing the realization of "equal pay for work of equal value", keeping committed to the principle of the policy of wage solidarity in Sweden to some extent.