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

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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.