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

本研究是对韩国1945-60年间的管理劳动关系、公司层面人事管理的实际情况、1953年劳动基准法的制定情况进行实证考察。其结果可归纳为以下几点。首先，本研究最重要的成果是填补韩国劳资史研究的空白。1945年独立前后的连续性和不连续性变得更加清晰。第二，与一般观点不同的是，内部劳动力市场型的雇佣实践在大企业时代到来之前，通过经济发展，已经作为保障员工生活费的制度而具体化。这些研究结果表明，流行的内部劳动力市场理论，强调企业特有的技能，特别是在大企业的效果是不足以解释韩国的情况。第三，一些政治方法集中在来自劳工运动或其他社会团体的压力上。然而，他们没有回答为什么工人没有寻找其他替代品，而只是这样一个系统的问题。本研究表明，在考虑具体薪酬制度的历史背景时，将其作为公司福利的一部分，并将其置于整个社会福利体系中，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.