How does job mobility affect inequality? Evidence from the south korean economic crisis

Previous research suggests that increasing job mobility leads to increasing economic inequality. In this study, I argue that an increase in job mobility can be inequality reducing, depending on the macro-structural context in which job changes become more frequent. I demonstrate empirical evidence by applying a new analytical approach to data from the South Korean economic crisis of the late 1990s. I find that rates of job transitions increased significantly during and after the economic crisis, and that more frequent movements between jobs ameliorated the rising trend in inequality: in other words, inequality in occupational status after the crisis would have been even greater had it not been for changes in the pattern of transitions between jobs.