Female Household Labor Three Times That of Men... No Difference Even in Dual-Income Couples

Average Hourly Wage is 73% of Men’s Level

Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Women aged 15 and older living in Seoul were found to spend an average of 2 hours and 26 minutes per day on housework, more than three times longer than men, who spent 41 minutes on housework.

On the 19th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family released these results after analyzing data from Statistics Korea’s 2019 “Time Use Survey” and “Social Survey,” as well as Seoul city survey data. The housework time for women in dual-income households in Seoul was similarly long, averaging 2 hours and 1 minute, compared to only 38 minutes for men. This means that women in dual-income households spent 3.7 times more time on housework than men.

The economic activity participation rate of women in Seoul has increased. It rose by 2.7 percentage points from 52.5% in 2015 to 55.2%. The rate of women experiencing career interruptions decreased by 1.6 percentage points to 19.0% compared to four years ago, indicating relatively more active economic participation by women.

However, the proportion of women working less than 36 hours per week increased. As of 2019, 26.6% of women worked less than 36 hours per week for pay, up 5.4 percentage points from 21.2% four years earlier. Considering that the proportion of men working less than 36 hours per week was 9.9% in 2019, this figure is three times higher for women.

The average hourly wage for women was also lower than that for men. Women’s average hourly wage was 15,037 won, which is 73% of men’s average hourly wage of 20,682 won. The proportion of workers earning less than 2 million won per month showed a significant gap as well, with 44.2% of women and 17.3% of men falling into this category.

Additionally, in 2019, 80.0% of childcare leave benefit recipients were women, while men accounted for 20.0%. The proportion of men receiving childcare leave benefits increased by 14.6 percentage points from 5.4% in 2015. Similarly, the proportion of men receiving reduced working hours benefits during childcare rose from 7.1% in 2015 to 12.0% in 2019.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to publish these findings in a booklet titled “2020 Gender-Responsive Statistics” and distribute it to local governments, public libraries, and universities.