This study is to identify the factors deterring or precipitating the exit from welfarerecipiency to labor market in the Korean social assistance program. The results fromthe empirical analyses of the Korea Welfare Panel Study(KOWEPS) show that theduration dependency is not due to increasing welfare dependency with duration, but tothe fact that longer stayers have many vulnerable conditions to escape from poverty. Particularly, the main factors determining the transition from recipiency to labor marketare not individual or household characteristics such as human or social capital. Thosehaving adolescents of secondary education in their households or participating in someeffective labor market program such as job placement service tend to have significanteffects on the exit rates from recipiency. That means that the institution-relatedfactors such as the education and health supports combined with benefits and the effective labor market programs are important in the translation from recipiency to labor market of working-age recipients in the Korean social assistance scheme.