History study of personnel management in South Korean public sector: Origin of living-expenses guarantee type compensation system and its modification during the later period of economic development

本研究对1945-60年来韩国管理劳动关系、公司层面人事管理的实际情况以及1953年《劳动标准法》的制定情况进行了积极的考察。研究结果可以概括为以下几点。首先，本研究最重要的成果是有助于填补韩国劳动管理史研究的空白。1945年独立前后的连续性和间断性变得更加明显。其次，与流行观点不同的是，也清楚地表明，在经济发展的大商业时代到来之前，内部劳动力市场式的就业做法已经作为一种保障员工生活费用的制度具体化。这些发现表明，流行的内部劳动力市场理论强调企业特定技能的影响，特别是在大企业中，不足以解释韩国的情况。第三，一些政治途径侧重于来自劳工运动或其他社会团体的压力。然而，他们没有回答为什么工人们没有寻找其他选择，而只是寻找这样的系统。这项研究表明，当我们考虑到特定薪酬制度的历史背景时，将其视为公司福利的一部分，并将其定位于整个社会福利制度将是有益的。

This study is examining positively the management labor relations, the actual conditions of personnel management in the company level, and the enactment circumstances of the 1953 labor standard act in South Korea for 1945-60 years. The results can be summarized to the following points. First, the most important outcome of this study is to contribute to filling the blank in labor and management history study in South Korea. Continuity and discontinuity before and after the independence in 1945 has become clearer. Secondly, differing from popular view, it was also shown clearly that the internal labor market type employment practices were already materialized as a system securing living expenses for their employees before the advent of the big business era by economic development. These findings suggest that the popular internal labor market theory that emphasizes the effect of firm-specific skills especially in big enterprises is not sufficient to explain the case of South Korea. Thirdly, some political approaches have focused on pressures from labor movement or other social groups. However, they don't answer to the question why workers had not searched for other alternatives but for such a system only. This study indicates, when we consider the historical background of a specific compensation system, it will be useful to regard it as a part of company welfare and position it into the whole social welfare system.