Ministry of Gender Equality Announces Wage Gap in Publicly Listed Companies and Public Institutions
Wage Gap: 26.3% in Publicly Listed Companies, 22.7% in Public Institutions
Gap Narrowed but Still Twice the OECD Average
Last year, the average wage gap between men and women in publicly disclosed companies was 26.3%. This means that when men earn 1 million KRW, women earn about 740,000 KRW. Although the gap decreased compared to the previous year, the average wage gap between men and women remains significant. In public institutions, the gender wage gap was 22.7%.
On the 6th, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced the "2023 Gender Wage Gap of Employees in Publicly Disclosed Companies and Public Institutions." The Korean Women’s Development Institute analyzed gender wage-related information from business reports submitted to the electronic disclosure system (DART) for publicly disclosed companies as of last year, and from individual public institutions disclosed on the Public Institution Management Information Disclosure System (ALIO), based on the "Framework Act on Gender Equality."
As a result of investigating gender wage-related information from 2,647 publicly disclosed listed corporations and external audit target corporations that disclosed gender wage status last year, the average wage per male employee in publicly disclosed companies was 98.57 million KRW, while the average wage per female employee was 72.59 million KRW. The gender wage gap in the average wage per employee in publicly disclosed companies was 26.3%.
This represents a 4.4 percentage point decrease from the previous year (30.7%). The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family explained, "The average wages of men and women in publicly disclosed companies increased compared to the previous year," and "the wage increase for women was greater than that for men, which is estimated to have reduced the gender wage gap."
However, when looking at the actual average wage amounts, the difference between men and women is minimal. According to Statistics Korea, last year the average monthly wage was 4.26 million KRW for men and 2.783 million KRW for women. In 2022, men earned 4.137 million KRW and women earned 2.683 million KRW, meaning men’s wages increased by 123,000 KRW and women’s by 100,000 KRW over one year. In terms of growth rate, men’s wages increased by 2.97%, while women’s wages increased by 3.73%.
Additionally, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family analyzed that the increase in the proportion of female employees and the increase in average years of service among employees in publicly disclosed companies last year also had an impact. The average years of service for men in all publicly disclosed companies was 11.9 years, while for women it was 9.1 years. The gender gap in years of service was 23.0%, showing a 2.1 percentage point decrease from the previous year (25.1%).
The industry with the largest gender wage gap was business facility management, business support, and rental services (46.0%). This was followed by wholesale and retail trade (43.7%) and construction (43.5%). The industry with the smallest gender wage gap was arts, sports, and leisure-related services (16.5%).
Public Institutions Also Show 20% Range Gender Wage Gap
In public institutions, the average wage gap between men and women was also 22.7%. Analyzing gender wage-related information from 339 public institutions that disclosed gender wage status last year, the average wage per male employee in public institutions was 78.49 million KRW, while the average wage per female employee was 60.74 million KRW. The gender wage gap decreased by 2.5 percentage points from the previous year (25.2%).
Also, the average years of service for men in all public institutions was 14.1 years, and for women it was 10 years, resulting in a gender gap in years of service of 29.0%. This also decreased by 2.5 percentage points from the previous year (31.5%).
Although the gender wage gap in listed companies and public institutions is decreasing, the gap remains more than twice as high as the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) member country average of 12.1% as of 2022. In Mexico, which has a GDP ranking similar to Korea, the wage gap was 16.7%.
Lee Suk-jin, CEO of DSG and former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, said, "The ratio of women’s wages to men’s wages is gradually narrowing," but added, "The causes are very diverse, and it is necessary to investigate wage trends not only in publicly disclosed listed corporations and public institutions but also in low-wage labor sectors to strive for gender equality throughout the labor market."
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