Neighborhood Ethnic Composition and Job Search Path as Determinants of Earning and High Skill Job Employment among Employed Marriage Immigrant Wives in South Korea

Abstract

This study explores the determinants of employed immigrant wives’ earning and high skill job employment in South Korea focusing on the effect of residential co-ethnic composition and job search through co-ethnics. Using data from the 2009 National Multi-cultural Family Survey, employed marriage immigrant wives from China (Han, Korean-Chinese), Vietnam and Philippine were selected as study samples and compositions of each ethnic group in 251 sig/gun/gu districts nationwide were derived. Having implemented multi-level logistic regression on co-ethnic job search and high skill job employment and multi-level regression on average monthly wage, this study finds that residing in a co-ethnic concentrated area was associated with higher probability of searching for job through co-ethnics. Moreover, jobs attained through co-ethnics were associated with lower earning and skill level, controlling for other variables. However, in co-ethnic concentrated areas, job searching through co-ethnics had positive impact on the earning level of job. These findings imply that with substantial spatial accumulation of immigrants, social networks formed among these immigrant groups can act as an important resource for adaptation.