An Empirical Study on Employment during Crises in Korea

Abstract

This paper analyzes how the adverse impacts of the global financial crisis on Korea’s employment could be mitigated in comparison with the Asian crisis period. The results from error-correction models suggest that the less severe impacts during the global financial crisis could be attributed to (i) smaller GDP reduction, (ii) better maintenance of domestic demand despite a sharp fall of export, (iii) less serious over-employment during the run-up to the crisis, and (iv) less severe credit crunch. Analyses of OECD cross-country data provide corroborating evidence. In order to mitigate adverse impacts on employment, therefore, priority should be given to expansionary macroeconomic policies to keep aggregate domestic demand from collapsing once a crisis is triggered. Also crucial, however, is to maintain sound economic structures such as flexible labor market and adequately supervised financial market.

Keywords

• 고용(Employment)
• 위기(Crisis)