Employment Dynamics of Married Women and the Role of Part-time Work: the Case of Korea

Abstract

I examine employment dynamics of married women with a particular focus on the role of part-time work using panel data from South Korea.Using a dynamic multinomial logit model with random effects, I find that a part-time work alternative substantially reduces the probability of being out of the labor market for mothers of young children and that the probability of moving into full-time employment is highest among all transition probabilities for part-time workers.These results suggest that part-time employment may act as a stepping stone toward full-time work for women who have been out of the labor market.