Women’s Careers and Cities A Comparison of Employment Patterns in South Korea and Japan

Abstract

This study first 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 rate of educated women — is diminished in globalized cities that are closely entangled with diverse nations and cultural regions (Welsch 1999). Using the 2008 data from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS) and the Japanese General Social Survey (JGSS), the estimation of weighted proportion found that the specific employment patterns in Japan remain stronger in the country’s cities. The dynamics in labor force participation of educated women partially conform to the hypothesis, but do not follow the Western style in either country. Findings reveal the diversity of work–life styles in the hybridization of culture within globalization, which would be important in policymaking in the labor market for women.