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Labour Market Reforms And Polarization In Korea, K. H., Raymond Chan

CAPS Working Paper Series

From the early 1990s the South Korean government launched a series of structural reforms to liberalize and deregulate the economy and labour market, in line with its globalization strategy. Particularly after the financial crisis, flexible labour market reform was one of the major initiatives to keep the Korean economy competitive in the global market. This paper describes the rationale for flexible labour market reforms in Korea from the early 1990s, evaluates their impacts on labour market polarization, and assesses the policy responses adopted by Kim Dae-jung and the current Roh Moo-hyun governments. It is argued that the flexible labour market …