This research focuses on the gendered labor market consequences of immigrant social networks. Using a nationally representative sample and based on alternative analytic approaches, the present study investigates how and to what extent informal job search, i.e., finding a job through a personal contact, is associated with earnings outcomes for male and female immigrants in Korea. Unlike most previous studies, it distinguishes between two types of information provider or job referrer: bonding and bridging. Contrary to the notion that immigrant women are “doubly disadvantaged” in the labor market, findings indicate that network-based job search yields lower monthly income for male, but not female, workers. In addition, significant evidence suggests that for the male subsample only, securing a job through a bonding (co-ethnic) contact results in an earnings penalty. Negative income returns on securing a job through a bridging (inter-ethnic) contact, on the other hand, receives conditional empirical support.

• Date & Time:  November 26 (Mon.), 2018, 16:30-18:00
• Venue: Room 960, Bldg.#14, Waseda Campus, Waseda University
• Lecturer: Harris H. Kim, Professor, Ewha Womans University
• Title: Doubly Disadvantaged? Gender, Informal Job Search and Labor Market Outcomes among South Korea’s Immigrant Workers
• Coordinators: Naoyuki Umemori (Professor, Faculty of Political Science and Economics); Yoshihiro Nakano (Junior Researcher, ORIS)
• Language: English
• Open to: Students, faculty, staff and the general public
• Admission: Free

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