Facilitating reentries in the Korean labor market: the effectiveness of training and development policy for women with career interruption

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze the current status of career-interrupted women’s vocational competency development and to suggest policy implications by focusing on the government-funded vocational competency development project to support reentry into the labor market for women with career interruption. Design/methodology/approach The study analyzed quantitative data, such as employment insurance databases and HRD-Net, to identify the status and issues of career-interrupted women’s vocational competency development, training performance and limitations. The researchers analyzed the data on women who participated in training for the unemployed by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and compared the training performance of career-interrupted women with that of women who have never had a career interruption, by age and educational background. Findings Meeting the needs of career-interrupted women with various career profiles was not easy. The structural limitations of the labor market faced by women with career interruptions should be resolved, and policy support for soft landing in reemployment should be further developed. On the basis of those findings, the authors suggest that the vocational competency development project can be supported in a proactive way to meet various levels of demand, including specific support for start-up services. Originality/value This study is meaningful in that it analyzed the status of career-interrupted women’s vocational training and the results of that training by linking quantitative data, such as those from employment insurance databases and HRD-Net. The findings revealed the need to go beyond the perception of training participants and to identify the value to the labor market and the competitiveness of women who have had career interruptions.