Analysis of Wage Determinants of Care Workers

Na, Young Kyoon; Jeong, Hyoung Sun

Abstract

BACKGROUND
In this study, wage status and wage determinants of care workers were analyzed.
METHODS
The analysis used database (DB) of long-term care institutions, DB of long-term care institutions, DB of long-term care workers, DB of health insurance qualification, and contribution possessed by National Health Insurance Services. We analyzed the wage status of the care workers from 2009 to 2016 through basic analysis and estimated the factors affecting the wage of the long-term care facilities' care workers using pooled ordinary least squares.
RESULTS
The monthly average wage of care workers was raised from Korean won (KRW) 1.37 million in 2009 to KRW 1.52 million in 2016, and the working hours were shortened by 20 hours from 207 hours to 187 hours. Hourly wages increased by KRW 1,329 from KRW 6,831 in 2009 to KRW 8,160 in 2016. The average monthly wage of care workers was affected by gender, age, years of employment, monthly working hours, establishment type, city size, institutional size, the grade of the institution, and management status. In particular, the wage level of the care workers was high when the larger the size of the institution, the better the management status (fill rate), the establishment type is "government and local government" and "corporation," the institutional rating is high, and the facility manager has the first grade of the social worker license.
CONCLUSION
The government should consider aggressive policies to improve the treatment of care workers as well as the quality of long-term care services so that there will be more long-term care facilities that are guaranteed social publicity above a certain level.