PAID AND UNPAID WORK IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

• Published in: Innovation in aging Vol. 1; no. suppl_1; p. 482
• Main Authors: Johnson, K.J., Lee, S., Lyu, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: US Oxford University Press 01-07-2017
• Subjects: Abstracts
• DOI: 10.1093/geroni/igx004.1714
• EISSN: 2399-5300

Research from Western countries indicates participation in paid and volunteer work is related to human and social capital, yet less is known about factors related to these productive activities in East Asian countries experiencing rapid change. We investigate the prevalence and profiles of workers and volunteers in Korea and the U.S, countries with different cultures and institutional circumstances. We apply logistic models to analyze data from the 2012 Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) and the 2012 American Health and Retirement Study (HRS). The analytic sample consists of 7,183 KLoSA respondents and 18,852 HRS respondents age 51 and older. The proportions of adults volunteering differ considerably between Korea (6%) and the U.S. (38%), while 43% and 46% of adults are working for pay in Korea and the U.S. respectively. Significant factors associated with voluntary work (e.g., female gender, religion, good health, absence of disability) are fairly similar in both countries. However, higher education, being unmarried, and working for pay are negatively related to volunteering in Korea only. Working for pay is negatively related to poor health, disability, female gender, and being married in both Korea and the U.S. Yet, higher education and voluntary work are negatively associated with paid employment in Korea only. In contrast, both volunteering and paid employment are positively associated with higher education in the U.S. These results suggest it is familial and health-related factors more than formal education shaping contemporary participation in productive activities among older cohorts in Korea.