Skill Development During Unpaid Work: A Qualitative Study of Re-Employed Women in South Korea

The current study explored the skills South Korean women perceived to have developed during periods in which their primary work consisted of childcare and household management. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with nine women who had re-entered paid employment following extended periods of unpaid work, and the data were analyzed using open coding. Seven categories of skills emerged: communication skills, perspective-taking skills, emotion regulation, relational care skills, flexibility and adaptability, task planning and coordination skills, and reflective and contextual awareness skills. The findings highlight the importance of reframing societal and theoretical understandings of unpaid care work by recognizing it as a significant source of transferable, career-relevant skills. The present study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence that unpaid work can serve as a meaningful context for skill development. The findings also have practical implications for integrating unpaid work into career development practices and interventions.