Women in the workplace: Gender and wage differentials

• Published in: Social indicators research Vol. 62-63; no. 1; pp. 367 - 385
• Main Author: Yoo, Gyeongjoon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Nature B.V 01.04.2003
• Subjects: Comparable worth; Demographics; Earnings; Employment; Employment Discrimination; Endowment; Enrollment; Enrollment Rate; Enrollments; Female employees; Females; Gender; Gender differences; Gender Discrimination; Higher education; Human Capital; Income Inequality; Individual Characteristics; Investment; Korea; Labor force; Labor Force Nonparticipants; Labor Force Participation; Labor market; Male employees; Males; Manufacturing Industry; Productivity; Quality of life; Research methods; Salary Wage Differentials; Sex discrimination; Sexual Inequality; Social indicators; Sociology; South Korea; Statistical analysis; Studies; Tenure; Wage differential; Wage differentials; Wages; Wages & salaries; Women; Work place; Working Women; South Korea
• ISSN: 0303-8300; 1573-0921
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1022661604653

The purpose of this study is to clarify the real causes of gender wage differentials in Korea by analyzing changes over the period 1988-1999. The participation rate of women in the Korean labor force has gradually increased since 1963, reaching 47.4 percent as of 1999. This increase can be attributed to more active participation by women of all ages, except those between the ages of 15-19, as a result of their enrollment in higher level education. In particular, a remarkable rise in labor market participation was achieved by those between the ages of 25-29. On the other hand, the gender gap in terms of pay has gradually decreased - the ratio of female workers' earnings to that of male workers has increased from 45.1 perecent in 1972, to 63.1 percent in 1999. However, when the gender wage differentials were broken down into their various categories, it was found that discrimination against female workers, compared to the gender gap, played a greater role in human capital endowment as it relates to productivity for the 1988-1999 period. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]