Korea’s gender pay gap widens to over 30%

Korea’s gender pay gap widened last year, with the average difference between wages for men and women rising to 30.7 percent, up from 2023. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family analyzed 2,980 companies required to disclose gender wage data and found that the average annual salary for men was 97.8 million won ($70,248), compared with 67.73 million won for women. This resulted in a gender wage gap of 30.7 percent, up 4.4 percentage points from 2023. While average wages declined for both men and women from 2023, women’s earnings dropped by 6.7 percent — far sharper than the 0.8 percent decline for men — contributing to the widening gap. The divide was especially stark in industries employing large workforces. In manufacturing, the gap widened from 20 percent in 2023 to 29.1 percent last year. In information and communications, the gap rose by 4.3 percentage points, while the gap increased by 1 percentage point in the finance and insurance sector. By industry, the largest gender pay gaps were recorded in wholesale and retail trade and in construction, both exceeding 40 percent,Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times