Association Between Work Status and the Use of Healthcare Services Among Women in the Republic of Korea

Min Kyung Hyun,Man-Yee Kan

doi:10.1016/j.shaw.2021.10.004

Min Kyung Hyun, Man-Yee Kan

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2021.10.004

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Abstract

IntroductionPrevious studies on occupational health focussed predominately on the occurrence of occupational diseases. Relatively few studies have measured how employment is associated with the use of healthcare services. This study investigates the association between employment and the extent and range of healthcare use, such as medical expenditures, of women in South Korea. MethodsWe analyze data of the Korean Health Panel, an ongoing longitudinal national representative survey, from 2008 to 2017, to identify the status of economic activity of women by year and age group. We estimate the association between female employment status and medical expenditures by using random effect panel Tobit models. Furthermore, we investigate the association between employment status and the range of healthcare services in biomedicine and traditional Korean medicine (KM) by conducting conditional fixed-effects logistic regression analyses. ResultsFor women aged between 25 and 65 in 2017, the majority of them were employed or self-employed. (The proportion of employment of self-employment equals 64.80%). In addition, working women spent 11.6% less on healthcare than nonworking women, and self-employment lowered the healthcare expenditure by 13.1%. Neither work nor the type of work is related to the types and range of healthcare service use. Being employed or self-employed is negatively associated with women’s expenditure on healthcare. ConclusionsThe findings show that employment is associated with less spending on healthcare. They imply that employment has a positive impact on women’s health.

Highlights

Previous studies on occupational health focussed predominately on occurance of occupational diseases
Neither work nor the type of work is related to the types and range of healthcare service use
The female employment rate in the Republic of Korea (ROK) increased from 49.9% in 1990 to 59.4% in 2018, but it was lower than the 79.1% recorded for ROK men in 2018 and below the OECD average of 64.6% [2]

Summary

Introduction

Previous studies on occupational health focussed predominately on occurance of occupational diseases. Few studies have measured how employment is associated with the use of healthcare services. Journal Pre-proof between employment and the extent and range of healthcare use, such as medical expenditures, of women in South Korea. Cultural restrictions on the participation of women in the labor market are decreasing, and technological advances are improving the productivity of the household, which will affect female employment. Women and the elderly are making more contributions to the Journal Pre-proof labor demand and supply markets. The female employment rate (aged 15 to 64) in the Republic of Korea (ROK) increased from 49.9% in 1990 to 59.4% in 2018, but it was lower than the 79.1% recorded for ROK men in 2018 and below the OECD average of 64.6% [2]. The proportion of women with tertiary education among 25-34 year-olds is 75.7%, the highest in the OECD, and 12% higher than 64.1% of ROK men [3]

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