[asia-apec 335] "Globalization and the Flexibilization of Labor (Part II)

[bayan]

        3.   Increase of Flexible Workers
        
             As in many other countries, women are being gradually pushed 
        into terribly low-paid and insecure employment.  Over the last 
        few years, the industry has increasingly shifted production to 
        home-based women workers.  The need to supplement family income 
        and to take care of the children and household chores have forced 
        women to accept extremely low wages doing factory work at home.  
        In Asia, homebased workers have long been part of factory produc-
        tion.  
        
             According to a research conducted by the Korean Women's 
        Institute, homebased workers are presumed to comprise 9.4% of 
        active economic participants. The steady increase in homebased 
        workers is consistent with the increase in employment in subcon-
        tracting firms.  For the most part, homeworker are assigned 
        simple and  labor-intensive tasks in the labor process, and they 
        are subject to periods of involuntary unemployment.  Their job 
        security is very low while their income level is only 68% of 
        other workers. Furthermore, 53.1% of homebased workers are women 
        with children under six years of age.
        
        
        Shortage of humanpower in SMEs 
        and the Problems of Migrant Workers
        
        The shortage of humanpower in small- and medium-size enterprises 
        (SMEs) has worsened since 1990, when the economy was in recession 
        and factories closed one after another.  As the economy recovered 
        in 1994, the shortage of manpower was exacerbated.  Foreign 
        workers increasingly came into the South Korean labor market.  
        The government calculated the number of migrant workers to be 
        170,000.  
        
        The Korean Federation of Small Businesses proposed to the govern-
        ment that more foreign workers be imported.  They are welcome by 
        SMEs as the solution to the humanpower shortage since their wages 
        and other labor costs are much cheaper.  They work without any 
        protection by domestic labor-related laws and submit to discrimi-
        natory practices.  
        
        Meanwhile, there have been debates regarding the foreign workers.  
        The labor movement works for their protection because they are 
        also entitled to human and labor rights.  However, it has also 
        been pointed out that even though the influx of foreign workers 
        may help solve the humanpower shortage in the short run, the low- 
        waged employment that they are forced to accept will help prolong 
        the bad working conditions suffered by all SME workers thereby 
        hurt their interest.#