Policies targeted on groups particularly disadvantaged by labour market dualism

A comprehensive policy to tackle labour market duality in Korea also needs to encompass measures to reduce the specific barriers that make it difficult for certain workforce groups to find high quality jobs which allow them to realise their full productive potential. Women and older workers are clearly two such groups, since both are overrepresented in non-regular employment and earn substantially less than, respectively, men and somewhat younger workers. In the case of women, relatively low participation rates are also a concern, especially in the context of population ageing. This section also reviews policies to reduce the skill mismatch that has developed in the youth labour market. Policies intended to reduce overall duality, which were discussed in Section 3.4, should make it easier to improve the labour market prospects of these three groups. However, the more targeted measures discussed in this section also have an important role to play.