Political Economy of Labor Sector Reform in the age of Neo-liberalism: Korea 1998-1999

초록

This paper examines the political process and impact of neo-liberal reform in labor sector. Neo-liberal labor market restructuring imposed by the IMF and advanced industrial countries made workers lose jobs and income. Therefore strong resistance form them were expected and actually happened. But Kim Dea Jung government managed to execute neo-liberal reform more or less successfully, and workers and their unions failed to stop it. There are several factors to contribute to its success: no presence of labor or pro-labor party in the National Assembly, election of once opposition leader to the President, division of workers into two rival national centers, non-class voting of workers, and so on.