DATA QUALITY AND COSTS IN MEASURING TIME-RELATED UNDEREMPLOYMENT IN KOREA

Time-related underemployment exists when a person's employment is insufficient in terms of the volume of work. Two alternative definitions can be considered based on a longer-term view or a shorter-term view and these were designed into a single questionnaire. We conducted a pilot sample survey with about 6,000 respondents in Korea. The estimates of underemployment using the two definitions show some differences given the ages, genders, industrial areas and main activities of the respondents. A larger number of people could be identified as underemployed when the longer-term view is used than when the shorter-term view is used, but there is a greater cost associated with the former. The cost-benefit of the interviewers' time was investigated by multiple visits to households. Biases and costs are also analyzed using the results of the comparison of the decrease in non-responses with the increase in the costs for the interviews.