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Sex Differentials in Earnings in the South Korean Labor Market

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  • Elizabeth Monk-Turner
  • Charlie Turner

Abstract

We examine gender differences in earnings among South Korean workers in 1988 - the year the South Korean National Assembly enacted the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. Using the "88 Occupational Wage Bargaining Survey on the Actual Condition," we calculate women's mean earnings as a percentage of men's mean earnings by major industrial category and educational attainment. We find a larger wage gap among clerical and sales workers than production workers or professionals. Generally, the more education a woman has, the smaller the gap between her earnings and those of her male counterparts. Women with a middle-school education have a mean income 53.5 percent that of comparable men, while the female-to-male wage ratio among college graduates is 76.1 percent. We analyze wage differences separately for women and men. Following Ronald Oaxaca's (1973) work, we decompose male-female wage differentials. We also calculate a discrimination coefficient. Our work shows that, all else equal, men earn from 33.6 percent to 46.9 percent more than women with comparable skills. We attribute the difference to gender discrimination.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth Monk-Turner & Charlie Turner, 2001. "Sex Differentials in Earnings in the South Korean Labor Market," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 63-78.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:7:y:2001:i:1:p:63-78
    DOI: 10.1080/13545700010028374
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    Cited by:

    1. Yunhee Chang & Ki Lee, 2006. "Household Debt and Marital Instability: Evidence from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 675-691, December.
    2. Edwin S. Wong, 2013. "Gender preference and transfers from parents to children: an inter-regional comparison," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 61-80, January.
    3. Jee Seong & Doo-Seung Hong & Won-Woo Park, 2012. "Work status, gender, and organizational commitment among Korean workers: The mediating role of person-organization fit," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 1105-1129, December.
    4. Raquel Vale Mendes, 2009. "Gender wage differentials and occupational distribution," Notas Económicas, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, issue 29, pages 26-40, June.
    5. Hyejin Yoon & Eunhee Kim & Chulwon Kim, 2021. "Sociodemographic Characteristics and Leisure Participation through the Perspective of Leisure Inequalities in Later Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-13, August.
    6. Raquel Vale Mendes, 2004. "Decomposition of gender wage differentials among Portuguese top management jobs," ERSA conference papers ersa04p127, European Regional Science Association.
    7. Monk-Turner, Elizabeth & Turner, Charlie, 2004. "The gender wage gap in South Korea: how much has changed in 10 years?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 415-424, April.

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