An Exploratory Approach to Changes in Jobs for Female Workers: A Focus on Data on Job Change from the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families

Using data from the 2011 Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families, this study looks at the continuance and changes of jobs for women, change types and change characteristics in the future according to category. Overall, no major changes could be seen in job types for wage earners, sole business owners, unpaid domestic laborers and special type workers. However, differences in job change could be seen when the characteristics of employment form and demographic economics are considered. Among wage earners, irregular/parttime workers had a higher possibility of changes in jobs than regular/full-time workers. Nonpaid workers showed differences according to age and educational attainment level. Those in the 20s and 30s with educational attainment of university level and above showed shifts from wage earning jobs to wage earning jobs, while those in their 40s with educational attainment of high school level showed changes between self-employment and special type worker jobs. Those in their 50s and 60s with middle school-level education showed noticeable changes in domestic unpaid work. Female employment shows existence of segmentation in these ways, and there is a connection with employment instability. In addition, it can be said that there is a link between female employment and life cycle, and it shows an overall declining tendency.