Social security, the labour market and public health in the UK and South Korea: Lessons for post-pandemic recovery and reform
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bath
Department Name: Institute for Policy Research
Abstract
A series of collaborations between the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Bath and the Institute of Welfare State Research at Yonsei University, South Korea. The two universities have previously enjoyed a fruitful partnership, and the proposed research and knowledge exchange collaborations are intended to build on this relationship. The collaborations consist of several conferences and workshops as well as a series of fellowships. As well as an academic partnership, the collaboration will include knowledge exchange with various government departments and think-tanks, and will enable the development of the capabilities and networks of Early Career Researchers.
The proposed collaboration seeks to develop research into seven key strands of research:
1. Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic for Welfare State Reform.
Under the measures to protect jobs and livelihoods in both countries, such as the UK's 'furlough' scheme and the Republic of Korea's short-term job retention scheme, how well did did these schemes perform? How well did they provide social security and maintaining employment?
2. Automation, Technology, Employment and the Labour Share: Tackling Inequality and Providing Inclusive Economic Growth
Each country has seen a decline in the labour share, and a rise in non-standard employment. Income inequality is relatively high in both countries. What is contributing to this decline? What is the role of in-work benefits and social security in this context?
3. Universal Basic Income: Pilots and Political Developments in the UK and Republic of Korea.
Interest in Universal Basic Income has risen during the Covid-19 pandemic, with several pilots planned or have taken place recently, such as in the Gyeonggi Province in South Korea, and two proposed by the Scottish and Welsh governments. What lessons can be learnt from the evaluations in South Korea? What has been proposed for the pilots in Scotland and Wales?
4. The Social Investment State in the UK and Korea, pre-and-post-pandemic: prospects and public policy options.
The UK and the Republic of Korea have seen extensive development of 'social investment' welfare state strategies in recent decades. However, investment has also been cut in many places in the UK and in Korea, employment rates are low and the gender-pay gap is high. Do social investment strategies ensure minimum levels of social protection? What are the political-economic institutions favouring social investment?
5. Young people, post-compulsory education and the future of the labour market.
Korea and the UK have amongst the highest rates of populations educated to tertiary level in the world. However, the pandemic has had a greater impact on vulnerable groups such as the low-paid and young people. What happened to the youth labour market during Covid-19? What reforms have occurred to vocational training? What issues are there amongst graduate unemployment?
6. Pensions and Social Care reform: A New Gerontocracy or Poverty in Retirement?
Korea is a rapidly ageing society, and the UK has a relatively low rate of Basic State Pension. What proposals for reforms into the funding and provisional of social care is there? What is the political economy of old age?
7. Employment, social security and public health: strengthening resilience to pandemics
Korea has no sickness benefits, but allowances were made during the pandemic for sick and hospitalised individuals. The UK has a low, flat rate statutory sick pay and made one-off payments to those required to self-isolate as a result of Covid-19 exposure. What inequalities were there in pandemic resilience? What effect did Covid-19 have on urban planning, employment and public health policy?
These research questions will be explored and answered by the proposed collaborations, with the intention of informing and shaping public policy, as well as producing high quality collaborative research intended for publication.
The proposed collaboration seeks to develop research into seven key strands of research:
1. Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic for Welfare State Reform.
Under the measures to protect jobs and livelihoods in both countries, such as the UK's 'furlough' scheme and the Republic of Korea's short-term job retention scheme, how well did did these schemes perform? How well did they provide social security and maintaining employment?
2. Automation, Technology, Employment and the Labour Share: Tackling Inequality and Providing Inclusive Economic Growth
Each country has seen a decline in the labour share, and a rise in non-standard employment. Income inequality is relatively high in both countries. What is contributing to this decline? What is the role of in-work benefits and social security in this context?
3. Universal Basic Income: Pilots and Political Developments in the UK and Republic of Korea.
Interest in Universal Basic Income has risen during the Covid-19 pandemic, with several pilots planned or have taken place recently, such as in the Gyeonggi Province in South Korea, and two proposed by the Scottish and Welsh governments. What lessons can be learnt from the evaluations in South Korea? What has been proposed for the pilots in Scotland and Wales?
4. The Social Investment State in the UK and Korea, pre-and-post-pandemic: prospects and public policy options.
The UK and the Republic of Korea have seen extensive development of 'social investment' welfare state strategies in recent decades. However, investment has also been cut in many places in the UK and in Korea, employment rates are low and the gender-pay gap is high. Do social investment strategies ensure minimum levels of social protection? What are the political-economic institutions favouring social investment?
5. Young people, post-compulsory education and the future of the labour market.
Korea and the UK have amongst the highest rates of populations educated to tertiary level in the world. However, the pandemic has had a greater impact on vulnerable groups such as the low-paid and young people. What happened to the youth labour market during Covid-19? What reforms have occurred to vocational training? What issues are there amongst graduate unemployment?
6. Pensions and Social Care reform: A New Gerontocracy or Poverty in Retirement?
Korea is a rapidly ageing society, and the UK has a relatively low rate of Basic State Pension. What proposals for reforms into the funding and provisional of social care is there? What is the political economy of old age?
7. Employment, social security and public health: strengthening resilience to pandemics
Korea has no sickness benefits, but allowances were made during the pandemic for sick and hospitalised individuals. The UK has a low, flat rate statutory sick pay and made one-off payments to those required to self-isolate as a result of Covid-19 exposure. What inequalities were there in pandemic resilience? What effect did Covid-19 have on urban planning, employment and public health policy?
These research questions will be explored and answered by the proposed collaborations, with the intention of informing and shaping public policy, as well as producing high quality collaborative research intended for publication.
Description | The award was funded under the UKRI Fund for International Collaboration. It was a Non-Standard fEC Grant Scheme for 'UK and South Korea social science, arts and humanities connections', intended to support networking and collaboration. The award supported collaboration between the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) at the University of Bath and the Institute for Welfare State Research (IWSR) at Yonsei University, South Korea. The focus of the collaboration was on social security, the labour market and public health: lessons for post-pandemic recovery and reform. The collaboration consisted of: - Two hybrid conferences at which papers were presented by researchers from IPR, IWSR and other universities in the EU and East Asia. These took place at the University of Bath (June 2022) and Yonsei University (October 2022); - A workshop on Basic Income pilots in Korea and other OECD countries, held at the Wales Centre for Public Policy, in partnership with officials from the Welsh Government, in June 2022; - Two Early Career Researcher visiting fellowships at the IPR in 2022/3 for social policy researchers from Yonsei University; - Meetings (in-person and on-line) between IPR researchers and officials from the Ministry of Employment and Labour and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of the Republic of Korea. The award supported a deepening of the collaboration between IPR and IWSR, including joint research projects between two ECRs at Yonsei and senior researchers at IPR; the extension of the IPR visiting policymaker fellowships to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in the Republic of Korea; and the sharing of research and public policy knowledge on basic income pilot schemes with officials from the Welsh Government. In 2023, two officials from the Republic of Korea visited the IPR on overseas visiting fellowships and in 2024, there will be a total of 4 visiting fellows from three Ministries. |
Exploitation Route | Two papers are currently planned for publication as a result of the collaboration between ECRs at Yonsei and researchers at the University of Bath on social security and labour market policy areas. Research papers presented in draft at the two conferences are also in submission, published or planned for publication. The IPR has further developed its partnerships with Ministries in the Republic of Korea and is now hosting four civil servants as overseas visiting fellows in 2024. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Education Government Democracy and Justice |
Description | As part of the award, a workshop was held at the Wales Centre for Public Policy at the University of Cardiff in June 2022 on Korean and wider OECD trials of basic income. This was held to inform the development work being undertaken by Welsh Government officials on the basic income for care leavers pilot scheme announced in 2022. Evidence on basic income projects in the Republic of Korea, and more widely in the OECD, as well as the methods of evaluating them, was presented by researchers from the Institute for Welfare State Research at Yonsei University and the IPR at the University of Bath. The Welsh Government has stated that it intends to 'draw learning from work [on basic income] from around the world.' |
First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy |
Impact Types | Policy & public services |
Description | Institute for Welfare State Research, Yonsei University |
Organisation | Yonsei University |
Country | Korea, Republic of |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The ESRC award enabled researchers at IPR to deepen and extend a collaboration with the Institute for Welfare State Research at Yonsei University. In the course of this collaboration, we have held three joint conferences and collaborated on public events and knowledge transfer activities, particularly on Universal Basic Income research. IPR has hosted two visiting fellowships for ECRs from Yonsei in 2022/3. |
Collaborator Contribution | Academics from the Institute for Welfare State Research at Yonsei University have presented papers at the three joint conferences we have held together; facilitated introductions for IPR to officials in the government of the Republic of Korea; and presented on their research at public events organised by IPR, and to a workshop held at the Wales Centre for Public Policy on basic income pilots in 2022. |
Impact | The main outcomes from this collaboration are the creation of networks, the hosting of academic and public events, the provision of opportunities for Early Career Researchers, and the preparation of papers on issues of mutual research interest. |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | MOU for an Annual Overseas Visiting Fellowship at IPR with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Republic of Korea |
Organisation | Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs |
Country | Korea, Republic of |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | The collaboration is for an MOU between the IPR at the University of Bath and the Ministry for hosting a Visting Overseas Fellowship for one individual departmental official each year. |
Collaborator Contribution | The Ministry will support officials and pay for the costs of those undertaking the Overseas Visiting Fellowship at IPR. |
Impact | The first Visiting Fellow from the Ministry is currently at IPR. |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Blogs for public dissemination |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Two blogs were published on the IPR Blog at the University of Bath for public dissemination of talks given at the first conference funded by the ESRC award: Prof Allister McGregor: UK and Korea post-Covid: Confronting ghosts of the past and why inclusive growth is a necessity and not a luxury Prof Nick Pearce: Social security, the labour market and public health in the UK and South Korea |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://blogs.bath.ac.uk/iprblog/category/uk-and-south-korea/ |
Description | Public engagement and dissemination of conference proceedings. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The two conferences held as part of the IPR-IWSR collaboration were hybrid events and open to attendance by postgraduate students at Yonsei University and the University of Bath. The workshop on basic income pilots held at the Wales Centre for Public Policy involved participants from the Welsh government as well as civil society organisations working with care leavers. During the course of the conference at Yonsei University, Professor Pearce also gave a newspaper interview on the subject of pensions' reform in the UK and lessons for South Korea, |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | http://www.welfarestate.re.kr/index.php?mid=notice&document_srl=7936 |