Kim Il Ho, Khang Young Ho, Cho Sung Il, Chun Heeran, Muntaner Carles
Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
J Prev Med Public Health. 2011 Jan;44(1):22-31. doi: 10.3961/jpmph.2011.44.1.22.
We examined gender differential changes in employment-related health inequalities according to occupational position (professional/nonprofessional) in South Korea during the last decade.
Data were taken from four rounds of Social Statistical Surveys of South Korea (1995, 1999, 2003, and 2006) from the Korean National Statistics Office. The total study population was 55435 male and 33 913 female employees aged 25-64. Employment arrangements were divided into permanent, fixed-term, and daily employment.
After stratification according to occupational position (professional/nonprofessional) and gender, different patterns in employment - related health inequalities were observed. In the professional group, the gaps in absolute and relative employment inequalities for poor self-rated health were more likely to widen following Korea's 1997 economic downturn. In the nonprofessional group, during the study period, graded patterns of employment-related health inequalities were continuously observed in both genders. Absolute health inequalities by employment status, however, decreased among men but increased among women. In addition, a remarkable increase in relative health inequalities was found among female temporary and daily employees (p = 0.009, < 0.001, respectively), but only among male daily employees (p = 0.001). Relative employment-related health inequalities had clearly widened for female daily workers between 2003 and 2006 (p = 0.047). The 1997 Korean economic downturn, in particular, seemingly stimulated a widening gap in employment health inequalities.
Our study revealed that whereas absolute health inequalities in relation to employment status increased in the professional group, relative employment-related health inequalities increased in the nonprofessional group, especially among women. In view of the high concentration of female nonstandard employees, further monitoring of inequality should consider gender specific patterns according to employee's occupational and employment status.
我们研究了过去十年间韩国按职业地位（专业/非专业）划分的与就业相关的健康不平等方面的性别差异变化。
数据取自韩国国家统计局的四轮韩国社会统计调查（1995年、1999年、2003年和2006年）。研究总人群为55435名年龄在25至64岁之间的男性雇员和33913名女性雇员。就业安排分为长期、固定期限和日工。
按职业地位（专业/非专业）和性别分层后，观察到与就业相关的健康不平等存在不同模式。在专业组中，1997年韩国经济衰退后，自评健康状况差的绝对和相对就业不平等差距更有可能扩大。在非专业组中，在研究期间，两性均持续观察到与就业相关的健康不平等的分级模式。然而，按就业状况划分的绝对健康不平等在男性中有所下降，但在女性中有所增加。此外，女性临时雇员和日工的相对健康不平等显著增加（分别为p = 0.009，< 0.001），但仅男性日工出现这种情况（p = 0.001）。2003年至2006年期间，女性日工的相对就业相关健康不平等明显扩大（p = 0.047）。特别是1997年韩国经济衰退似乎加剧了就业健康不平等差距的扩大。
我们的研究表明，专业组中与就业状况相关的绝对健康不平等增加，而非专业组中与就业相关的相对健康不平等增加，尤其是在女性中。鉴于女性非标准雇员高度集中，进一步监测不平等情况应根据雇员的职业和就业状况考虑性别特定模式。
