The purpose of this paper is to analyze job-search and wage reservation attitudes of the unemployed in Korea. We focused on job-search method; attitudes for chaning occupation, employment form and working form; and wage reservation ratios.
The main findings are as follows: In Korea, the most frequent job-search method used by the unemployed is yet the in formal way such as the broker through families, friends, etc. But, recently, there are significant increases in the use of PES and internet. One-third of the surveyed wished occupational change. Most people wished full-time and regular jobs. But the percentage of those who wish part-time jobs reached 21.7%, which is significantly higher than that of the past.
As for the wage reservation attitudes, 20.8% of the surveyed wished the maintenance of wage level, 41.8% of them did the more and 37.4% did the lower wage than that of the past. When compared with the past survey results, the percentage of those who willingly submit to the reduction of wage ratio increased significantly. According to the analysis of the determining factors of wage reservation ratios, femininity and the wage level of the past jobs strengthen the reservation attitudes. But the factors such as schooling period, family income level, past irregular employment effect negatively to wage reservation attitudes of the unemployed.
The implications are as follows: The PET's in Korea need to improve the employment service quality through the specialization of the staff and personnel, and to provide service which meet the demands of customers. And it is also important for the PES's to secure the better quality of job-seekers and companies who needs manpower. Especially, for meeting the chanhing behavior patterns of the unemployed, it becomes more and more important for the PES's to actively use the spearhead IT.