The Korea Herald

지나쌤

Women earn 11% less than male counterparts at Seoul government

By Park Han-na

Published : Dec. 29, 2021 - 16:30

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Seoul City Hall (Yonhap) Seoul City Hall (Yonhap)
Women working at the Seoul Metropolitan Government earn about 11 percent less than their male colleagues, data showed Wednesday, marking a smaller gap than the average figure registered by members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The data found that the gender wage gap, referring to the rate of men’s average pay to that of women, reached 11.28 percent last year, lower than 12.8 percent, the latest average of member nations of the OECD. Female civil servants for the city of Seoul account for 41.7 percent of the total 4,813 employees.

The data, which analyzed wages of 26 city government-funded institutions and agencies including the University of Seoul and Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, will be posted on the website of the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Thursday.

Of the 700 full-time employees of the University of Seoul, women workers made up 36.3 percent of the total workforce, and the gender wage gap stood at 54.99 percent, the highest among those surveyed.

The report attributed the causes of the disparity to the proportion of women among full-time high-paid lecturers, which was relatively low at 13.9 percent. The average length of service of women (60.5 months) was shorter than that of men (147.3 months).

The report said the significant wage gaps of some institutions tend to be in line with the disparity in workers’ length of service and their concentration in low-paying positions. It also found that the low proportion of women employed to work shifts and at night and technical jobs also affected the gap.

At Seoul Foundation of Women and Family, where women accounted for 100 percent of all the researchers hired by the think tank, female employees were paid 29.95 percent more than male colleagues.

Conducted by the Korea Women’s Development Institute, the analysis of the gender wage status is the second disclosure following last year’s for the purpose of improving the wage gap issue.

According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, South Korea posted a gender wage gap of 35.9 percent. Men were paid an average of 79.8 million won ($68,800) a year in 2020, while women received 51.1 million won, the study of 2,149 listed firms showed.