우리나라 노동시장에서의 흙수저 디스카운트 효과 = Being Born with a Wooden Spoon Cannot Guarantee a Golden Future?

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Since the mid-2010s, the so-called ‘Spoon Class Theory’ that parental wealth is a prerequisite for their children’s success has been widespread throughout Korean society. This study examines whether the actual labor market data supports this social perception by building the sample connecting parents and their children using the 1998-2021 Korea Labor and Income Panel Study. Our empirical results show a close positive association between parental financial wealth and their children’s labor market outcomes, such as job quality and wage growth path (the so-called ‘Wooden-spoon Discount Effect’). These results suggest that the government needs to minimize inequality of opportunities at the early stages of the youth labor market by repairing the broken social ladder to support young employees to climb up from the bottom to the top.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

부모의 재력은 자녀 성공의 필수조건이라는 이른바 ‘수저계급론’이 2010년대 중반이후 우리사회 전반에 널리 퍼져있다. 본 연구는 이러한 사회적 인식이 실제 데이터로 뒷받침되는지 살펴보았다. 이를 위해 외환위기 이후 23년간의 한국노동패널자료를 이용하여 부모 가구와 자녀 세대를 연결한 표본을 구축한 후 자산의 형태별(부동산, 금융자산 및 부채) 보유 규모를 통해 측정한 부모의 경제력이 자녀의노동시장 성과에 미치는 영향을 추정하였다. 실증분석 결과 부모의 재력 부족이자녀의 고용의 질 및 임금 경로에 유의미한 음(-)의 영향을 미치는 흙수저 디스카운트 효과(Wooden-spoon Discount Effect)가 포착되었다. 특히 금융자산 보유하위 25% 부모의 자녀는 상위 25%에 비해 양질의 일자리를 가질 확률이 약 8% 포인트 낮고 첫 일자리에서의 임금 수준도 11% 낮은데다 근무연수가 늘어날수록임금 격차가 점차 확대되는 것으로 추정되었다. 이러한 결과는 ‘흙수저’에서 ‘금수저’로 올라설 수 있는 계층 사다리 복원을 위해 정부가 부모로부터 경제적 지원을충분히 받지 못하는 청년층 구직자의 신용제약을 완화하여 노동시장 진입 초기단계부터 발생하는 격차를 줄일 수 있도록 노력해야 함을 시사한다.

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