The author uses data from the 1991 Current Population Survey and the fourth edition of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles to examine the extent to which U.S. labor markets are segmented across occupational as well as industrial divisions. Consideration is also given to the differences between the male and the female work force in this regard. The author uses differences in educational status to identify distinct wage regimes across occupations. The implications both for the market structure as a whole and for gender inequalities are assessed.
An analysis of reproductivity is mainly concerned with the measurement of net force of fertility expressed in terms of a generation rather than in a given year. The present study examined current trends of Korean Women's reproductivity interpreting general reproduction and net reproduction rates, intrinsic rate of natural increase and mean length of gestation. The data used for this analysis were drawn from the national fertility surveys from 1970 through 1990 conducted by the Korea Institute for Population and Health. The figures of the present study revealed that the reproduction rates of Korea during the last 20 years decreased from 2.22 in 1970 to 0.71 in 1990 and net reproduction rates also dropped from 1.9 to 0.69 during the same period of time. Furthermore, from this study, it is noticed that the replacement level of fertility had been reached since the early 1980s. The intrinsic rate of natural increase as measure of population growth under existing conditions of fertility and mortality and free of the influence of the current age distribution, is computed. The level of rate was not much changed and was 0.3 in 1970 compared with 0.25 in 1990, which is still higher than other developed countries. The mean age of mother at the birth of their daughters defined as the length of generation has been slightly changed from 23.9 in 1971 to 25.8 in 1990.
Korea completed the whole process of what is called the demographic transition to a low fertility and mortality level with the successful implementation of the national family planning program in 1962, and this has been accompanied by rapid socioeconomic development. Most of the fertility decline was due to a rising age at marriage and to lower marital fertility. The national family planning program, combined with the widespread practice of induced abortion, has placed an important role in reducing marital fertility, particularly among older women. This paper aims, therefore, to examine the determinants of fertility and their changes over time in an effort to suggest future population policy directions for Korea. The analysis is divided into 2 parts-estimation of pregnancy intervals by applying the proportional hazards model, and estimation of the determinants of fertility by adopting the logistic regression model to find out whether a pregnancy terminates in a live birth or in an abortion. In both analyses, the sex was included as the main explanatory variable. A woman's education has been shown to have a significant effect on delaying the timing or on the wife's age at first pregnancy, but its effect on the pace of subsequent pregnancies is much smaller and often positive. On the other hand, the woman's education has a consistently positive effect on the probability of a pregnancy ending in an abortion although the effect shows a steady decline over time. Form first parity, the sex composition of previous children stands out consistently as the most important factor in deciding both the pace of pregnancy and its outcome. The pregnancy risks of the women with sons are reduced by almost 50% at the second and third parities. The probability of a pregnancy ending in an abortion also increases substantially when parents already have a son. The decline of the desired family size but the sustained strong son preference has made the sex of children a more important factor in the determination of Korean fertility. The woman's education, on the other hand, has become a less important factor.
The contraceptive use rate in 1991 was 79.4%, which showed that the contraceptive use rate had reached the saturation point in Korea. In fact, the rapid increase in the use rate was evaluated as one of three major contributors in decreasing the TFR below the replacement level along with marriage age and induced abortion. The objective of this study was to analyze the determinants of contraceptive use by method in 1968, 1974, 1982, 1988, and 1991 using logistic regression as the statistical method. The results showed a significant relationship between sociodemographic variables and contraceptive use. The effect was strongest in 1968. Even though the relationship was somewhat weaker in 1988, it was strong again in 1991. This result contradicts the idea that there may only be a weak or no relationship between socioeconomic variables and contraceptive use owing to the effect of popular contraceptive use and increased availability of contraceptives. The relatively weak relationship in 1988 can be explained by the reinforced family planning programs of the government during the 1980s. Based on the analysis, it maybe learned that in spite of the high contraceptive use rate part of the population is still subject to unwanted pregnancies; so the government should endeavor to provide qualitative services to improve the quality of life as well as maintain an appropriate fertility level.
During the last 3 decades, efforts to deal with population problems in Korea have focused largely on reducing population growth. The national population control program has been a major means of achieving this goal. Between the early 1960s and 1990, evidence from a national survey indicates that the percent of current use of contraception rose from about 12% to 80% and the total fertility rate fell to 1.6. representing 1 of the most rapid fertility transitions in the developing world. In conjunction with this rapid reduction in fertility, mortality also improved significantly during this period. Thus, Korea has virtually completed the demographic transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates during the same period. It is widely recognized that Korea has reached demographic maturity and has also achieved remarkable economic development at the same time. The world's demographic history shows that the demographic transition which almost every industrialized country has gone through from a predominantly rural, illiterate society with high birth and death rates, to a predominantly rural, illiterate society with high birth and death rates, to a predominantly urban, educated society with low birth and death rates usually takes well over a century, but in Korea, that process has taken only a few decades. On the other hand, the consequences of a rapid fertility decline bring about various demographic and social issues which we have to take into consideration for future socioeconomic development policy concerning the well-being of the Korean people. Some of issues for policy consideration can be broadly summarized as follows: 1) gradual imbalance of sex ratio at birth due to traditional son preference behavior; 2) latent effect of inevitable population aging and increasing dependency burden on behalf of the elderly for the public sector; 3) changes in family life cycle and rapid transformation form a large to a small family; 4) increasing demand for now social roles for women, supported by easing of child care burdens within households.
