JOURNAL OF POPULATION, HEALTH AND SOCIAL WELFARE

Korea (Seoul) 34

SUMMER 1995 - VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1

96.34.1 - Korean - Kyung-Seuk OH Emerging patterns of generativity among Korean immigrant elderly

The author studies the practice of generativity amongst elderly Korean immigrants. Twenty elderly people (aged 60 or over) of Korean nationality and who were immigrants were interviewed. Four different groups have been highlighted by the study: the marginals, the survivors, the decision-makers and the integrated group. The marginals struggle in the gap which divides cultural expectations from the resources available. Their miserable standard of living does not allow for the mobilisation of sufficient emotional resources for generativity to occur. They do not express any particular desire to feel useful or to leave something behind them. The survivors are anxious about the generations to come. And yet, the elderly males in particular feel guilty about not having passed on any family traditions. Their wish to transmit things from one generation to another is expressed more specifically in terms of parental transfer. But from a perspective of symbolic immortality, this transfer proves to be quite weak. The need to be useful on the part of the decision makers would appear to go beyond the limits of the family. Their generativity can be qualified as either productive or technical. The fact that the decision makers wish absolutely to be remembered in one way or another would appear to indicate that they have a strong symbolic immortality. The integrated group have very tight family bonds. Even if their resources can be restricted, they know how to play the system. They exercise a cultural generativity and are highly desirious of a symbolic immortality. They have great hopes for their future and for that of their descendants. This study confirms that elderly Korean are not a homogeneous group. (KOREA, IMMIGRANTS, AGED, CULTURAL CHANGE)

96.34.2 - Korean - Byongho TCHOE An economic analysis of the reform of the effective marginal social security tax rates in the U.S.A.: A new approach with life-cycle applied general equilibrium model

Numerous discussions have been dedicated to the economic imbalances of the social security system and numerous reformative measures have been suggested in the aim of reducing these imbalances. The present article examines the social impact which a reform of the effective marginal social security tax rates would have on the various income categories and on the supply of capital and of manpower, if these rates were to become dependent on age: i.e., the young would have less to pay. The method used is an applied general equilibrium model in the framework of the life-cycle theory, in which the consumers are divided into five groups of life-long cumulative income. The author concludes that the reform improves the general welfare with a certain amount of progressivity where the group with the highest cumulative income during its lifetime receives, relatively speaking, the least benefits. The capital stock and supply of labour are both seen to increase while capital intensity increases due to the progress in economic efficiency. Some aspects of these results should be taken into account in the national retirement pension system in Korea. The rates of generation-specific and group-specific marginal contribution should be measured in order to analyse the differential effects of any such reform. The level in Korea generally tends to vary with age due to which the reform's effects would be felt more in Korea than they would in the U.S.A. since the salary gap between different age groups is more pronounced. (KOREA, UNITED STATES, SOCIAL SECURITY)

96.34.3 - Korean - Soon-Young LEE The basic plan of the National health examination survey

Since the structure of morbidity has changed due to the decline in infectious diseases as opposed to chronic illnesses - and this, since the 1970s - there are no representative data availble on the prevalence of the main chronic diseases in Korea. Currently, the data on health insurance, medical screening surveys on patients and studies on health using interviews are being used in order to make approximate calculations of the prevalence of chronic diseases, but they are not representative. Data on chronic diseases are absolutely essential if a national health policy is to be established and its effects to be monitored. It is therefore necessary for a basic survey on a national level, including interviews with households and clinical studies enabling a reliable collection of data, including data on undiagnosed cases, to be carried out, not only in order to decide upon the orientation and the scope of the chronic disease control project, but also to make it possible to evaluate its effects. In the present article, the author suggests a basic plan for a national health survey. He describes how the American and Japanese health surveys were directed and compares the health survey based on interviews, such as has been carried out by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs and the health survey based on medical examinations such as is suggested in the present article. In the future, the survey contents and method should be developed stage by stage. In this way, chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, hypercholosterolemy, diabetes, etc., are suggested as being worthy of the preliminary survey's attention. The author emphasises that any such undertaking should be a government initiative. (KOREA, BASELINE SURVEYS, HEALTH SURVEYS, CHRONIC DISEASES)

96.34.4 - English - Lee, Hyun SONG, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, San 42-14, Bulgwang-Dong, Eunpyung-Ku, SŽoul 122-040 (CorŽe)

Are labor markets segmented across occupations?

The aim of the present arficle is to confirm, both from a theoretical and an empirical point of view, the fact that labour markets are segmented according to occupations as well as across industrial sectors. After a presentation of the concepts relative to market segmentation across occupations, the author tests the hypothesis of the dual nature of the labour market, based on occupations and using data from the Demographic Survey carried out in March 1991 and the fourth edition of the Occupational Dictionary. The test includes three phones - during the first of these, the author identifies various periods during which salaries are pegged according to occupational categories by analysing the distribution of regression coefficients of the education level compared to the occupation. In the second stage, he shows how these distinct salary regimes are in agreement with the dualist theory of the labour market, in terms of the main characteristics of employment such as salary, security of employment, the complexity of the job, autonomy and authority. Finally, he compares the male and female labour markets from the perspective of the hypothesis of labour market dualism: the hypothesis is only confirmed in the case of males. The theoretical implication of segmentation of labour markets across occupations, as distinct from segmentation across industrial sectors, is widely discussed in the present article, in the same way as are the differences between males and females with regard to market structure and its effects on inequalities between the sexes. (KOREA, LABOUR MARKET, OCCUPATIONS, ECONOMIC THEORY)

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