Effects of Social Capital on Temporary Employment: Immigrant Husbands in South Korea

Nayoung Heo , Asian Demographic Research Institute, Shanghai University
YoonKyung Kwak, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs

This study aims to reveal how social capital is associated with the employment status of male immigrants, an important component of structural integration. Marriage migration in South Korea is highly female-dominated and seems to occur mostly for economic reasons. Thus, the employment security of immigrant husbands has not been fully examined, even though they are more likely to have a job than female immigrants. A multiple logistic regression model was fit to predict the odds of temporary employment among immigrant husbands with social capital variables including co-ethnic network and inter-ethnic network indices and participation in co-ethnic and local gatherings, using the nationally representative dataset from the National Survey of Multicultural Families 2015. Participation in gatherings with Koreans and having a larger network of Koreans are negatively associated with temporary employment. Interestingly, having obtained the current job through either Koreans or co-ethnics leads to higher odds of temporary employment ceteris paribus. Under a more gender-neutral support policy, it is necessary to foster an environment in which immigrant husbands can build up social networks with Koreans and access to formal advertisements for available positions.

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 Presented in Session P3. Poster Session Migration, Economics, Environment, Methods, History and Policy