Korea’s gender wage gap tops OECD ranking for over a decade

New data released today confirmed that Korea’s wage gap between men and women continues to be the largest among the advanced economies.

Research from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) revealed that Korea’s gender income gap stands at 37.4%, meaning that Korean women are paid only 63% of what their male equivalents earn on average.

Korea’s wage gap has remained the highest out of the advanced nations analyzed by the OECD for 13 consecutive years, since the year 2000. Estonia was ranked second with a wage gap of 31.5%, followed by Japan, Israel, and the Netherlands.

Solomon W. Polachek writes about the ongoing gender wage gap in developed economies. Though the gap persists despite years of efforts at equal pay legislation, he finds that most countries are showing signs of this decreasing. He also has evidence to show that policies aimed at increasing women’s lifetime work can help to effectively balance wage levels.

Alex Bryson also finds that active trade unions can work to effectively reduce wage inequality more generally.

Read more here.

Related articles:
Equal pay legislation and the gender wage gap, by Solomon W. Polachek
Union wage effects, by Alex Bryson