This study identified the level of job satisfaction of the marriage migrant women workers and the influential variables on that job satisfaction, and aimed to make a policy proposal. The research was conducted on 158 marriage migrant women workers in Jeonbuk Province using the difference verification and the regression analysis.
The research set three topics as follows: First, what is the level of job satisfaction of the marriage migrant women workers? Second, are there any differences in the level of job satisfaction of the marriage migrant women workers depending on the personal, job and cultural factors? Third, do the personal, job and cultural factors of the marriage migrant women workers have an impact on the level of job satisfaction?
The main research results are as follows:
First, the level of job satisfaction of the marriage migrant women workers was at the score of 3.11, which was slightly higher that the existing research results. In this regard, it is concluded that the research subjects had relatively low expectations on their job.
Second, the difference verification of the job satisfaction level depending on the personal, job and cultural factors showed that all of the personal factors (age, academic background, with or without children, economic conditions) had no relevant differences. Among the job factors, employment status, welfare benefit and suitability of workers’ skill level had relevant differences between the groups. Specifically, in terms of employment status, the group of regular employees had the highest level of job satisfaction, with the highest gap with the group of day-to-day workers in the post verification. The factor of welfare benefit also had relevant differences between the groups.
In terms of the suitability of job given the workers’ skill level, the job satisfaction level was different between the groups. In other words, it was analyzed that the satisfaction level was higher when the job was more suitable to the workers against their skill level. The difference verification by the cultural factors showed that the level of job satisfaction of the workers from the Philippines was relevantly higher than that of other countries. In addition, the job satisfaction level was relevantly different between the groups who recognized the perceived discrimination and the other groups.
Third, the analysis on the influential factors on the job satisfaction of the marriage migrant women workers showed that the personal factors did not have relevant impacts on all factors. In terms of the job factors, the employment status and suitability of workers’ skill level had a positive (+) impact on job satisfaction when the workers were regular employees and the workers had suitable skill levels. The period of working had a negative (-) impact as the period was longer. In addition, among the cultural factors, it was analyzed that the period of residence had a positive impact as the period was longer, while the stress from the perceived discrimination had a negative impact on job satisfaction as the workers had a higher stress.
Based on the major results, the study intends to make practical and political implications as follows:
First, it is assumed that the proportion of day-to-day workers and unskilled workers was high among the marriage migrant women workers because the types of occupation using the language and cultural resources under the national policy hire temporary workers for under 1 year or day-to-day workers. Employment itself may be significant for the marriage migrant women workers, but the desire for rewards should be increased as they work longer and develop higher skill levels for the job. Therefore, it is necessary to select the projects that satisfy the social needs and create long-term jobs so that the marriage migrant women workers should be properly rewarded. Moreover, it is required to develop an employment maintenance program for the workers to maintain their jobs.
Second, it was analyzed that the workers from the Philippines had an impact on the level of job satisfaction, showing that it is required to continue to implement the policies for improving the awareness by the members the society. Moreover, the marriage migrant women have to make efforts to lower the dependence on the country or other people and enhance their self-esteem.
Such efforts mean the integration of the citizens. The integration model of the citizens refers to the active citizenship that emphasizes the participation and responsibility of the migrants. It is also the shared citizenship that stresses the common values and systems and the moral citizenship that emphasizes the loyalty and identification to the country of destination. In other words, the marriage migrant women themselves are required to get rid of the recognition of discrimination and make efforts to become the member of the society.