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From an economic model in which education and growth reinforced each other, South Korea has developed a pathological equilibrium holding back economic and social progress. Low labour productivity and skills mismatch undermine the economic prospects of the country, and sharp rises in inequality in an ever more dualised labour market erode social cohesion. Governments of different political persuasion have recognised these challenges, and they have thought to reinvigorate vocational education and training (VET). However, this article shows that large employers – which were at the heart of a segmentalist coalition between business and government when collective skills formation of the Developmental State was dismantled – continue to undermine any efforts of meaningful vocational skills formation. It is argued that the country's hierarchical production regime and, related to this, labour market dualisation provide the micro-foundations for successive failure in VET reform; and without challenging large employers' dominant position in the Korean political economy and without addressing labour market dualism, the reform of VET policy can be expected to remain a futile endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is little doubt that South Korea needs to develop a new social contract as a matter of urgency. Labour market dualisation and the rise of insecurity have undermined the social fabric of the country in the absence of robust social protection mechanisms that could mitigate job insecurity and corresponding anxiety. Elected on a platform of economic and social justice, the centre-left Moon Jae-in government (2017–2022) started with an ambitious agenda of labour market and unemployment protection reforms, informed by an aspiration to establish an inclusive/wage-led growth model instead of the country's divisive export-oriented growth strategy, which relies on the exploitation of irregular workers for its economic success. We assess labour market dualisation and recent reform by the Moon Jae-in administration, before considering alternative policy recommendations to address the social polarisation in Korean society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between labour market dualization, insecurity and low fertility, through a case study of South Korea, an extreme case of ultra-low fertility where the total fertility rate fell to 0.84 in 2020. It is argued that the long-term nature of the insecurity associated with dualization, as well as its impact on people's perceptions of present and future insecurity, mark dualization out as a particular phenomenon whose impact on fertility current demographic approaches struggle to fully understand. Rather than restricting the focus to the education-employment transition, we show how permanent insecurity in highly dualized labour markets depresses fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In post‐war Germany and South Korea, not only was vocational education and training key to the two countries' export‐oriented growth models, it also promoted social inclusion. More recently, the knowledge economy has put this skills‐based, inclusive growth model under pressure, and we see labour market dualisation calling into question the social contracts in the two countries. Studying education reform in Germany and Korea, we analyse government capacity to reconcile efficiency and inclusion in the knowledge economy, in the context of twin pressures from firms (with changing skills needs) and parents (with high aspirations for their children). We show that the German government, drawing on its corporatist past, has been more successful in mediating these pressures than Korea, where hierarchical business relations undermined employer engagement and more inclusive policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Korean peninsula weather is rapidly becoming subtropical due to global warming. In summer 2018, South Korea experienced the highest temperatures since the meteorological observations recorded in 1907. Heat stress has a negative effect on Holstein cows, the most popular breed of dairy cattle in South Korea, which is susceptible to heat. To examine physiological changes in dairy cows under heat stress conditions, we analyzed the profiles circulating microRNAs isolated from whole blood samples collected under heat stress and non-heat stress conditions using small RNA sequencing. We compared the expression profiles in lactating cows under heat stress and non-heat stress conditions to understand the regulation of biological processes in heat-stressed cows. Moreover, we measured several heat stress indicators, such as rectal temperature, milk yield, and average daily gain. All these assessments showed that pregnant cows were more susceptible to heat stress than non-pregnant cows. In addition, we found the differential expression of 11 miRNAs (bta-miR-19a, bta-miR-19b, bta-miR-30a-5p, and several from the bta-miR-2284 family) in both pregnant and non-pregnant cows under heat stress conditions. In target gene prediction and gene set enrichment analysis, these miRNAs were found to be associated with the cytoskeleton, cell junction, vasculogenesis, cell proliferation, ATP synthesis, oxidative stress, and immune responses involved in heat response. These miRNAs can be used as potential biomarkers for heat stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acinetobacter baumannii is a highly potent nosocomial pathogen that is associated with increased in-hospital mortality. Here, we investigated the changes in molecular characteristics of carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii (CRAB) isolated from the blood samples of patients admitted to a tertiary hospital in South Korea from January 2009 to July 2015. Whole genome sequencing using the Illumina MiSeq platform and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) were performed for 98 CRAB clinical isolates. In silico analyses for the prediction of antimicrobial resistance and virulence factor genes were performed. Plasmid sequences, including complete forms, were reconstructed from the sequence reads. Epidemiologic data were collected from the hospital database. MLST using the Oxford scheme revealed 10 sequence types of CRAB, of which ST191 was the dominant type (n = 59). Although blaOXA-23 was shared by most analysed strains, the compositions of antimicrobial resistance determinants differed among sequence types. ST447 and ST451/ST1809 with a few resistance genes were isolated during the later years of the study period. The number of virulence genes increased, while that of ST191 did not change significantly over the investigation period. Intriguingly MLST types, compositions of antimicrobial resistance genes, and virulence genes had no association with clinical outcomes of CRAB bacteraemia. In conclusion, active changes in or accumulations of antimicrobial resistance determinants and virulence genes in CRAB were not observed during the research period. Molecular characteristics of CRAB had no association with clinical outcomes of CRAB bacteraemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labour markets across industrialised countries have seen an increasing polarisation between insiders and outsiders as a result of labour market deregulation and welfare retrenchment, with governments responding to rising pressure from employers. But where are trade unions in this process of labour market deregulation and dualisation? Insider/outsider as well as producer coalition approaches portray organised labour as a structurally conservative force that is ready to prioritise the interests of insiders at the expense of those at the margins of the labour market. Rather than protecting the entire working class, unions are seen as being "complicit" in labour market dualisation that leaves an ever greater number of workers vulnerable. Our examination of the Korean case, though commonly perceived as an example of unions pursuing particularistic interests, does not comply with this image, but shows greater union inclusiveness in the face of socio-economic and socio-political challenges. Understanding the change in Korean trade union strategies, we highlight the critical importance of union identities shifting towards social movement unionism, in addition to the perceived imperative to revitalise the movement in order to remain a meaningful social force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success story of Korean economic development is intimately linked with the so-called developmental state; and education policy, as part of centrally orchestrated industrial policy, played a critical role in the country's rapid industrialisation, which allowed for high employment rates, relatively modest social inequality and remarkable social mobility. However, the Korean success story has started to show 'cracks' – with labour market dualisation, rising inequality and 'over-education'. While acknowledging the importance of the East Asian financial crisis as external shock for the Korean political economy, we suggest more fundamental problems in the socio-economic and socio-political underpinnings of the developmental state and its education and skills formation system for understanding how Korea's economic and education miracle turned into 'education inflation', skills mismatch and social polarisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Challenging the new political-economic “mainstream” that considers trade unions to be “complicit” in labor market dualization, this article’s analysis of union strategies in Italy and South Korea, most-different union movements perceived as unlikely cases for the pursuit of broader social solidarity, shows that in both countries unions have successively moved away from insider-focused strategies and toward “solidarity for all” in the industrial relations arena as well as in their social policy preferences. Furthermore, unions explored new avenues of political agency, often in alliance with civil society organizations. This convergent trend toward a social model of unionism is ascribed to a response of unions to a “double crisis”: that is, a socioeconomic crisis, which takes the form of a growing periphery of the labor market associated with growing social exclusion, and a sociopolitical crisis, which takes the form of an increasing marginalization of the unions from the political process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coordinated welfare capitalism has been subject to comprehensive change since the 1990s, with workfare measures and the deregulation of employment protection at the heart of labor market reforms. Developments in Sweden, Germany, and South Korea challenge not only the assumption of relative stability that is commonly associated with the study of coordinated market economies, but also the assertion that this stability is associated with the persistence of established political coalitions. The authors contend that a collapse of longstanding welfare state coalitions is the key political driver of labor market reform, with the withdrawal of employers from previous welfare settlements at the center of this development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]