[Exclusive] While Male Employees at 'God's Workplace' Public Institutions Earn 74 Million KRW, Female Employees Received 60 Million KRW [K Population Strategy]

Full Survey of 361 Public Institutions
Over 30% in Financial Public Institutions Including KDB and KEXIM
Government Legal Affairs Corporation Exceeds 50%, Largest Gap

Even in public institutions known as the "God's workplace," the wage gap between male and female employees exceeded 50% last year in some cases. When male employees earned 1 million KRW, female employees earned less than 500,000 KRW. Expanding the scope to all public institutions, the average gender wage gap over the past five years was about 20%. The average annual salary per person was 73.92 million KRW for men and 59.85 million KRW for women. This result pertains only to regular employees excluding executives.

According to data obtained by Asia Economy on the 18th through ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) evaluation specialist DoESG, the average gender wage gap among regular employees in public institutions from 2019 to 2023 was 19.04%. For indefinite contract workers and full-time executives, the gaps were 14.32% and 9.57%, respectively.

This analysis was conducted based on five years of data from 361 out of 362 institutions disclosed on the public institution management information disclosure system Alio, covering the period from 2019 to the third quarter of 2023. The Overseas Koreans Foundation, which was split into the Overseas Koreans Office and Overseas Koreans Center last year, was excluded from the analysis.

◆Although fewer women in the past... wage gaps persist even in new hires= The gender wage gap among regular employees in public institutions improved slightly from 20.53% in 2019 to 17.35% in 2023, but the change was not significant, and the five-year average (19.04%) remained close to 20%.

By type of public institution, the financial sector had the largest average gender wage gap over five years at 23.90%. The reduction in wage gaps was also relatively small compared to other sectors. The financial public institutions' gender wage gap last year was 22.44%, a decrease of only 0.11 percentage points from 22.55% in 2022. This contrasts with other sectors such as culture, arts, diplomacy, and legal affairs (from 21.22% to 19.39%) and agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and environment (from 21.07% to 19.10%), which reduced their gaps by 2-3 percentage points year-on-year.

The public institution with the largest average gender wage gap among regular employees in the financial sector over five years was KDB Industrial Bank at 33.42%, closely followed by the Export-Import Bank of Korea at 31.91%. Although the Industrial Bank's gap has gradually decreased from 35.81% in 2019 to 29.80% in 2023, men still earn about 1 million KRW when women earn only 700,000 KRW. The Industrial Bank operates policy funds for small and medium-sized enterprises under the Financial Services Commission. The number of regular female employees increased from 1,097 in 2019 to 1,212 in 2023, but no female executives were appointed during the five years. According to the Industrial Bank's 2023 integrated disclosure report, among regular female employees, the number exceeded that of males in lower ranks such as grade 5 and general staff B (high school graduate employees), but sharply decreased from grade 4 upwards. For the highest rank, grade 1 regular employees, there were 87 men compared to only 8 women.

An Industrial Bank official explained, "In the past, many women joined as high school graduate employees," adding, "Currently, the proportion of women among high school graduate new hires remains high." However, among 85 regular new hires last year, only 5 were high school graduate employees of both genders combined, and the total number of female employees, including high school graduates, was 37, still less than half.

The Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corporation showed a reverse phenomenon where the average wage of women exceeded that of men among regular employees, but this was analyzed as a special case where a small number of women in higher ranks raised the average. The five-year average gender wage gap at the Minting Corporation was -2.27%. A representative explained, "Due to the nature of the industry, many women have long tenure in the field." However, the Minting Corporation also had zero female executives. According to the Minting Corporation's ESG report, there were 109 male managers (grade 3 and above) compared to only 9 female managers, a difference of more than tenfold. Among new hires, there were 52 men and 11 women, nearly a fivefold difference. The total number of male employees was 985, 2.7 times more than the 364 female employees.

Among individual public institutions, the largest gender wage gap was at the Government Legal Affairs Corporation. Last year's wage gap reached 50.32%, with a five-year average of 48.76%. The Government Legal Affairs Corporation, known as the "national law firm," supports various legal affairs including lawsuits against the state. According to disclosures via Alio, excluding lawyers, the general staff from grades 3 to 9 showed a higher proportion of women in lower ranks. For grades 3 to 6, there were 8 men and 5 women, but for grades 7 to 9, there were 12 men and 27 women.

By classification of public institutions, fund management-type quasi-governmental institutions (public institutions managing funds or entrusted with fund management under the National Finance Act) had the largest gender wage gap last year at 22.14%. Among the 11 fund management-type quasi-governmental institutions out of 361, six were financial institutions including Korea Asset Management Corporation, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, Korea Housing Finance Corporation, Korea Technology Finance Corporation, Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, and Deposit Insurance Corporation. The largest gender wage gap among these was at the Deposit Insurance Corporation at 30.36%. A representative said, "Until the 2000s, there were not many female employees," adding, "There may be differences depending on rank, but it is expected to gradually ease." However, among 28 regular new hires at the Deposit Insurance Corporation last year, only 9 were women, accounting for 32%.

The gender wage gap in quasi-market public enterprises, excluding market-type public enterprises such as Korea Racing Authority and Korea Land & Housing Corporation, increased from 18.95% in 2022 to 19.20% in 2023.

◆Women work 2 years and 3 months less... length of service gap persists= Even though public institutions have better systems such as parental leave compared to private companies, women retired 2 years and 3 months (27.58 months) earlier than men. The five-year average showed that regular male employees worked 137.13 months, while females worked 110.30 months.

Among fund management-type quasi-governmental institutions over the past five years, the gender gap in length of service was the largest at 65.20 months (34.03%). Market-type public enterprises (with assets over 2 trillion KRW and more than 85% of total revenue from self-generated income) followed with 58.18 months (31.21%), entrusted execution-type quasi-governmental institutions (quasi-governmental institutions other than fund management-type) 45.06 months (28.36%), quasi-market public enterprises 48.97 months (26.10%), and other public institutions 20.09 months (17.48%).

Fund management-type quasi-governmental institutions, previously mentioned as having high gender wage gaps, include Korea Asset Management Corporation, Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, and Deposit Insurance Corporation, with financial institutions accounting for more than half. These institutions showed large gender wage gaps and shorter average length of service for women compared to men. Over five years, the gender gap in length of service in the financial sector was 47.63 months (30.35%), about four times that of the employment, health, and welfare sector, which had the smallest gap of 12.59 months (11.99%).

Meanwhile, KEPCO KPS showed significant gender gaps in both wages and length of service among regular employees. KEPCO KPS is a public institution responsible for power generation and equipment maintenance, classified as a quasi-market public enterprise in the energy sector. The proportion of female employees is very low. A KEPCO KPS official said, "Before 1997, no women were hired. Due to the nature of the industry, female applicants have been few," adding, "Since the 2000s, the number of female hires has steadily increased." The official also said, "We are making efforts to recruit female talent through blind recruitment and other measures."

Lee Sook-jin, CEO of DoESG and former Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family, said, "This analysis showed a correlation between wages and length of service," explaining, "Rather than direct gender discrimination in various systems, indirect effects such as the low proportion of women in promotions and pay raises seem to have influenced the results." However, she added, "It was regrettable that Alio disclosure data did not provide gender data by rank, making it difficult to clearly analyze based on numbers."

Women's employment in public institutions began to increase after the implementation of the female civil servant recruitment target system (with a target rate of 10%) in 1996. However, the practice of prioritizing male hires has continued until recently. Currently, public institutions apply the same recruitment procedures and set equal salaries regardless of gender (with exceptions such as recognizing military service), but the gap remains unclosed. Even within public institutions, this is acknowledged. An official from a public institution said, "There is almost no discrimination in promotion up to the level of junior staff, but at the deputy general manager level and executive positions, where evaluations by politically appointed presidents are significant, the proportion of men is high."

Lee emphasized, "Private financial institutions sometimes lead ESG efforts or excel in female representation," adding, "In public institutions, there are still cases where women are absent from higher ranks. It is necessary to check whether gender-segregated hiring into lower ranks is still being practiced during recruitment."

◆Improvement trend in indefinite contract workers weakens... energy sector largest gap= Indefinite contract workers, also called "mid-level contract workers," who are in employment forms between regular and contract workers, showed smaller gender differences in both wages and length of service compared to regular employees. Indefinite contract workers have indefinite contract periods guaranteeing retirement age but receive treatment such as wages and welfare at contract worker levels or below regular employees.

The average gender wage gap for indefinite contract workers over five years was 14.32%, relatively smaller than the 19.04% average for regular employees. However, the gap showed little change in the improvement trend, moving from 15.12% in 2019 to 15.20% in 2020, 14.43% in 2021, 13.78% in 2022, and 13.15% last year.

By sector, the energy sector had the largest five-year average gender wage gap for indefinite contract workers at 22.0%, followed by industrial promotion and informatization (16.62%), social overhead capital (SOC, 16.11%), and both financial and other sectors at 15.02%. For 2023, the gender wage gap for indefinite contract workers in market-type public enterprises and fund management-type quasi-governmental institutions increased by 0.23 and 0.2 percentage points, respectively, compared to the previous year. The number of institutions employing short-term indefinite contract female workers was 89, twice the 44 institutions employing males.

Men also had longer length of service. Over the past five years, the average length of service was 51.38 months for men and 49.16 months for women. Both genders nearly doubled their length of service compared to 2019. The average length of service for male indefinite contract workers increased from 39.64 months in 2019 to 64.78 months in 2023, and for females from 37.43 months to 62.66 months.