노인돌봄서비스 인력의 일자리 질: FGI방법 적용

Elderly Care Workers’ Job Quality: Using FGI

Quality jobs are an important driver of increased labour force participation, productivity and economic performance. Work is also strongly related to individuals’ well-being and quality of life. Quality of job, thus, attracts more attention both from researchers and policy-makers. The purpose of this study was to review elderly care workers’ job quality focusing on level of payment, job security, adequacy of working time, level of training, and other benefits which are often used as job quality indicators by international labour organizations and in previous studies. Focus group interviews (FGI) were conducted with five workers. The results show that the job quality of elderly care workers falls far short of the standards for a decent job. Although these jobs may provide an alternative to re-entry for female workers who had once stopped their careers, this poor quality job has, over all, serious negative effects on care workers job prospects as well as on the occupational prestige of social service workers in general. Elderly care workers who support the diverse needs of communities, families and individuals definitely deserve better rewards and recognition in both standardized job descriptions and through a proper payment system.