A well-functioning labour market is essential to sustain rapid economic growth in the face of population ageing. Priorities are to reverse the rising share of non-regular workers, which has negative implications for both growth and equity, and encourage greater employment of women and youth, who...

Faced with exceptionally rapid population ageing, Korea should address obstacles that lower fertility rates while encouraging higher labour force participation, particularly among women. While public social spending is currently very low, there is pressure for increased outlays on pensions,...

Globalisation through foreign direct investment (FDI), international trade and international movements of labour is a key force driving economic growth. Although Korea has become more integrated in the world economy over the past decade, it still ranks low in terms of import penetration, the...

Labour productivity growth in the service sector has been low relative to manufacturing. This is explained in part by weak competition in services resulting from strict product market regulation and the low level of import penetration and inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI). Increasing...

Maintaining rapid economic growth depends increasingly on productivity gains, particularly in the service sector. Competition has an important role to play in achieving such gains. However, Korea’s development strategy has tended to weaken competition and has left a legacy of government...

Although Korea has the second-lowest level of public spending among OECD countries at 22½ per cent of GDP, it faces strong upward spending pressures over the medium and longer term, which could threaten fiscal sustainability. This paper analyses the main features of Korea’s public expenditure...

With inputs of labour and capital slowing, sustaining high growth rates in Korea will increasingly depend on total factor productivity gains, which are in turn driven to a large extent by innovation. While a number of Korean firms are at the world technology frontier in areas such as ICT, the...

This paper discusses policies to improve fiscal relations between levels of government to better meet the needs of citizens, an objective of the government’s “Roadmap for Decentralisation”. Although local government accounts for around half of total government spending, they have little...

This paper analyses the increasing dualism in the Korean labour market and the need to encourage greater labour force participation. Although the rising proportion of non-regular workers lowers labour costs and increases employment flexibility, it has a negative impact on both equity and...