Women's Careers and Cities: Comparison of Employment Patterns in South Korea and Japan

This study empirically tests whether the national and East Asian regional-based particularity of employment patterns in South Korea and Japan – the M-shaped labor force participation rate of women by age and the low labor market participation of higher educated women – is diminished in global/larger cities that are closely entangled with diverse nations and cultural regions (Welsch, 1999). The data used is from the “Korean Labor and Income Panel Study” (KLIPS) and the “Japanese General Social Survey” (JGSS), both from 2008. The estimation of weighted proportion found that: First, the M-shaped labor force participation rate of women becomes considerably apparent in the cities in Japan. It becomes slightly obvious in Korean cities; second, among higher educational levels, women with a bachelor’s degree participate more actively in the labor market in large cities in both countries. However, the styles of employment dynamics by educational level, in general, do not converge to the Western style. Following the results, the hypothesis of this study cannot be accepted for the M-shaped employment pattern of women in Japan and Korea. The globalization dynamics in labor force participation of educated women partially conform to the hypothesis. The inconformity to hypotheses seems to be severe in Japan compared to Korea. In Japan, the specific employment patterns of women remain stronger within globalization, even though Japanese cities have a stronger connection with the West/globalized world. This asymmetry may be caused by a relation of power in cities in each country. This study is the first to compare the dynamics of work-life style in Korea and Japan in respect to globalization.