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The wage gap between Korean men and women is the widest among members of the OECD, with Korean women earning on average a mere 61 percent of what men take home. The National Statistical Office, citing OECD figures, said when the amount of the average wage of Korean men was set at 100, Korean women earned a mere 61 as of 2005. This is far below the OECD average of 81, and the lowest among 20 countries surveyed. By country, New Zealand had the smallest gender wage gap at 91. France and Poland were tied in second place with 89, and Denmark and Hungary came next with 88 and 87 respectively. Spain and Australia followed with 85 and 84.
Japan was also among countries with a wider gender wage gap with 69 points.
The chief reason for the large gap in Korea is that considerably more women than men work in insecure temporary jobs that pay significantly less. ¡°More women than men tend to lower their goals and settle for temporary, contract jobs,¡± said Sohn Min-jung, a researcher at the Samsung Economic Research Institute. ¡°Also, many women in their 30s or older miss opportunities to increase their salary because they take leave from their jobs to have children.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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