Hoyeon Lee
Ph.D. Candidate · Public and Urban Policy
New School for Social Research

I study how institutions and employment structures reorganize inequality in an age of technological change. My research asks who benefits, who bears the risks, and how public policy can govern these transitions more equitably. Drawing on political economy and economic sociology, I examine automation, migration, and platform work through longitudinal data, qualitative interviews, and institutional analysis.

Research interests Labor market institutions · Inequality · Technology and work · Migration · Artificial intelligence
Research Download CV
Hoyeon Lee
Dissertation

Rethinking Labor Market Inequality in South Korea:
Automation, Institutions, and Stratification

My dissertation develops an institutional account of technological change and inequality. Focusing on automation in South Korea, it combines longitudinal panel data, qualitative interviews, and institutional analysis to show how stratified employment structures—rather than technology alone—determine how economic risks and opportunities are distributed across workers.

Committee: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr (Chair), William Milberg, Ying Chen
Selected Research Highlights
David Marsden Best Paper Prize 2026 · Award · Jury Citation
Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE)
Awarded annually to one paper at the SASE Annual Conference for outstanding theory-driven research on labor markets, employment relations, and institutions.
Winner, LERA/AILR Best Paper Competition 2026
Labor and Employment Relations Association
Selected through the annual research-proposal competition; winning papers are presented and receive expedited review for publication in Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations.
William R. Waters Research Grant 2026 · $5,000
Association for Social Economics
Ranked first among the 2026 awardees; the grant supports one or two research projects annually.
ICI-Starr Student Fellowship 2026 · $3,500
India China Institute, The New School
Supported three weeks of fieldwork in Kerala, India, on platform work and algorithmic labor control.
WINIR Young Scholar 2026
World Interdisciplinary Network for Institutional Research
Best Article Award in Labor and Welfare Studies 2018 · Korean · English
Institute for Welfare State Research (IWSR), South Korea
Recognized outstanding research in labor and welfare studies.
Selected Teaching Highlights
Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award 2026
The New School for Social Research
Annual recognition of excellence in graduate teaching, based on student and faculty nominations.