지난 30년간 한국 제조업의 노동투입 조정패턴의 변화

This paper examines changes in the pattern of adjusting labor input (employment, working hours) to fluctuations in production for the past 30 years(1977~2007), using monthly time-series data in Korean manufacturing The paper performs regression analyses, based on the finite distributed lag model The major findings are as follows First, labor flexibility in terms of employment adjustment decreased greatly after 1987, and then increased after the economic crisis in 1997 In contrast, labor flexibility in terms of hours adjustment have increased continuously for the past 30 years Second, adjustment patterns of labor inputs are different among periods In the period 2(19887~19976), labor inputs were adjusted in the way of balancing the increasing rigidity of employment adjustment mainly due to the strengthening influence of labor unions since 1987 with increasing the flexibility of hours adjustment To the contrary, in the period 3(19997~200712), the necessity of labor input adjustment due to fluctuations in production was met through increasing the flexibility of both employment and hours adjustment, as labor union's influence weakened and firm's strategy of labor flexibility strengthened in that period Third, working hours tend to be adjusted immediately in response to fluctuations in production, while employment adjustment tends to occur over relatively long lags Fourth, female workers became more vulnerable to the risk of being adjusted in terms of both employment and hours after the economic crisis in 1997.