Does Employment Status Matter? Social Adaptation of North Korean Refugee Women in South Korea

BACKGROUND: As South Korea (SK) is a capitalist nation, participating in the labor market is important for the survival and adaptation of North Korean refugee women (NKRW) in SK. However, only 54% of NK refugee women were employed, and 30.9% were non-regular workers in 2019. According to a national report on NKRW, the most frequently reported difficulties in SK was “economic difficulties (34.2%)”. Non-regular employment can result in many problems as non-regular workers are paid less and receive fewer social protection provisions and company benefits than their regular counterparts. As a result, employment type (i.e., regular and non-regular job) is directly related to NKRW’s economic and social adaptation in the new society. However, previous studies have failed to investigate the impact of employment type on social adaptation among NKRW. This study examined the association between the employment status and social adaptation, with a particular interest in exploring the difference between regular and non-regular job.

METHODS: The data were collected in 2020 using a snowball sampling method, and 153 NKRW were included in this study. The dependent variable was NKRW’s social adaptation. The independent variable, employment type, was categorized into four groups: regular, non-regular, self-employed, and unemployed workers. In the first regression analysis model, we compared the social adaptation between unemployed and employed workers (i.e., regular, non-regular, and self-employed workers). In the second regression analysis model, we analyzed the social adaptation between four different types of employment, using the unemployed group as a reference. In addition, the same model was anlyzed using the non-regular worker group as a reference to compare the difference in social adaptation between regular workers and non-regular workers.

RESULTS: In the first regression model, the employed group showed significantly higher levels of social adaptation than the unemployed group (β = .251, p = .001). In the second regression model, regular workers (β = .235, p = .006) and non-regular workers (β = .211, p = .011) had significantly higher levels of social adaptation than unemployed respondents. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between unemployed workers and self-employed workers. In the final analysis, different than expected, there was no statistically significant difference in social adaptation between regular and non-regular workers.

IMPLICATIONS: The results showed that having a job contributes to the social adaptation of NK refugee women in SK. However, regular workers and non-regular workers showed no significant difference. In addition, social support and income level did not significantly differ between the two groups in supplemental analyses to explain these findings. It may imply that having an occupation itself can facilitate NKRW’s adaptation as it provides opportunities for frequent interpersonal exchanges and cultural learning. One thing to note is that the average income of this study population is lower than other general populations in SK. Even though there was no significant difference between the regular and non-regular group in terms of social adaptation, high-quality vocational trainings and education need to be provided to promote NKRW’s regular job attainment and improve their financial status.