북한 일유형이 남한에서 탈북이주민 고용에 미치는 영향

Abstract

North Korean Migrants’ poor employment situation in the South Korean labormarket including their high unemployment rate and low wage level have raised manydebates over the causes of such problems. As the causes of the employment problems,previous studies have pointed out North Korean Migrants’ inadequacies and weakemployment intention, South Koreans’ prejudice and exclusiveness, etc., but theimportance of the cohort effect of North Korean Migrants’work experiences on theircurrent employment has been overlooked. Recognizing this problem and giving attention to North Korean residents’ workexperiences, the present researcher conducted the third and conclusive study, following theprevious studies “A Study on North Korean Residents’ Work Types” and “Determinantsof North Korean Residents’Work Type in the Period of Marketization.” The conclusiondrawn from this study is that there is a significant causal relation between ‘work type inNorth Korea’ before migration and ‘employment in South Korea’ after migration, and theprobability of employment or the basic livelihood benefit take‐up rate is significantlydifferent according to whether one had an formal work, informal work, or both formal andinformal work in North Korea. According to the results of binomial logit and multiple regression with datacollected from 413 North Korean migrants living in Seoul and sampled through quotasampling based on the year of entry, etc., both work type and education level in NorthKorea had a significant positive effect on North Korean migrants’ employment in SouthKorea. An interesting finding was that the probability of employment in South Korea washigher in work types with more market economic activities (informal work>both formaland informal work>formal work) in North Korea. Contrary to expectation, the probabilityof employment was lowest in those who had been engaged in an formal work in NorthKorea. What is more, work types with more market economic activities in North Koreashowed a lower probability of being a basic livelihood benefit recipient, and consequentlythose with an informal work were less dependent on the government than those with anformal/both formal and informal work. The most important finding from this study is that work experience in a NorthKorean market enhanced economic adaptability to the South Korean labor marketsignificantly. This suggests that North Korean migrants’experience in working at a marketin North Korea can be more useful as human resource than experience in an formal work. North Korean Migrants’ poor employment situation in the South Korean labormarket including their high unemployment rate and low wage level have raised manydebates over the causes of such problems. As the causes of the employment problems,previous studies have pointed out North Korean Migrants’ inadequacies and weakemployment intention, South Koreans’ prejudice and exclusiveness, etc., but theimportance of the cohort effect of North Korean Migrants’work experiences on theircurrent employment has been overlooked. Recognizing this problem and giving attention to North Korean residents’ workexperiences, the present researcher conducted the third and conclusive study, following theprevious studies “A Study on North Korean Residents’ Work Types” and “Determinantsof North Korean Residents’Work Type in the Period of Marketization.” The conclusiondrawn from this study is that there is a significant causal relation between ‘work type inNorth Korea’ before migration and ‘employment in South Korea’ after migration, and theprobability of employment or the basic livelihood benefit take‐up rate is significantlydifferent according to whether one had an formal work, informal work, or both formal andinformal work in North Korea. According to the results of binomial logit and multiple regression with datacollected from 413 North Korean migrants living in Seoul and sampled through quotasampling based on the year of entry, etc., both work type and education level in NorthKorea had a significant positive effect on North Korean migrants’ employment in SouthKorea. An interesting finding was that the probability of employment in South Korea washigher in work types with more market economic activities (informal work>both formaland informal work>formal work) in North Korea. Contrary to expectation, the probabilityof employment was lowest in those who had been engaged in an formal work in NorthKorea. What is more, work types with more market economic activities in North Koreashowed a lower probability of being a basic livelihood benefit recipient, and consequentlythose with an informal work were less dependent on the government than those with anformal/both formal and informal work. The most important finding from this study is that work experience in a NorthKorean market enhanced economic adaptability to the South Korean labor marketsignificantly. This suggests that North Korean migrants’experience in working at a market in North Korea can be more useful as human resource than experience in an formal work. The government has so far classified North Korean migrants experienced in an informal work into unemployed, but such a job classification system for North Korean migrants needs to be reconsidered. It is expected than future progress in the marketization of North Korea may bring improvement in the development of human resources or market adaptability among North Korean residents.