IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jjieco/v53y2019ic6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The narrowing gender wage gap in South Korea

Author

Listed:
  • Tromp, Nikolas

Abstract

This paper investigates the Korean gender wage gap in 2003 and 2016 as well as its changes over time. Using data from the Economically Active Population Survey and unconditional quantile regressions, the wage gap is decomposed at selected quantiles across the wage distribution. The log wage gap forms an inverted-U shape across the distribution. Between 2003 and 2016, the log wage gap falls by 32%, 45%, 35% and 25% at the mean, 10th,50th and 90th quantiles. Reductions in structural and composition effects drive the fall at the bottom and middle of the distribution, while smaller reductions in structural effects result in the smaller fall at the top. Reductions in gender differences in tenure, regular worker status, education and occupations are associated with the fall in the wage gap over time. However, these variables continue to play important roles in the wage gap in 2016.

Suggested Citation

  • Tromp, Nikolas, 2019. "The narrowing gender wage gap in South Korea," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jjieco:v:53:y:2019:i:c:6
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jjie.2019.101032
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S088915831830090X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jjie.2019.101032?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Victor Chernozhukov & Iván Fernández‐Val & Blaise Melly, 2013. "Inference on Counterfactual Distributions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(6), pages 2205-2268, November.
    2. Cho, Donghun, 2007. "Why is the gender earnings gap greater in Korea than in the United States?," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 455-469, December.
    3. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2017. "The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(3), pages 789-865, September.
    4. Christofides, Louis N. & Polycarpou, Alexandros & Vrachimis, Konstantinos, 2013. "Gender wage gaps, ‘sticky floors’ and ‘glass ceilings’ in Europe," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 86-102.
    5. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    6. Hanol Lee & Jong‐Wha Lee & Eunbi Song, 2016. "Effects of Educational Mistmatch on Wages in the Korean Labor Market," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 375-400, December.
    7. Nabanita Datta Gupta & Ronald L. Oaxaca & Nina Smith, 2006. "Swimming Upstream, Floating Downstream: Comparing Women's Relative Wage Progress in the United States and Denmark," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 59(2), pages 243-266, January.
    8. David Grubb & Jae-Kap Lee & Peter Tergeist, 2007. "Addressing Labour Market Duality in Korea," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 61, OECD Publishing.
    9. Blau, Francine D & Kahn, Lawrence M, 1997. "Swimming Upstream: Trends in the Gender Wage Differential in 1980s," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 1-42, January.
    10. Dan A. Black & Amelia M. Haviland & Seth G. Sanders & Lowell J. Taylor, 2008. "Gender Wage Disparities among the Highly Educated," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(3), pages 630-659.
    11. Heather Antecol & Kelly Bedard, 2004. "The Racial Wage Gap: The Importance of Labor Force Attachment Differences across Black, Mexican, and White Men," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(2).
    12. Sergio Firpo & Nicole M. Fortin & Thomas Lemieux, 2009. "Unconditional Quantile Regressions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 953-973, May.
    13. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    14. José Mata & José A. F. Machado, 2005. "Counterfactual decomposition of changes in wage distributions using quantile regression," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(4), pages 445-465.
    15. Jungmin Lee, 2017. "The labor market in South Korea, 2000–2016," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 405-405, December.
    16. Donghun Cho & Joonmo Cho, 2011. "How do Labor Unions Influence the Gender Earnings Gap? A Comparative Study of the US and Korea," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 133-157.
    17. Iv'an Fern'andez-Val & Franco Peracchi & Aico van Vuuren & Francis Vella, 2018. "Selection and the Distribution of Female Hourly Wages in the U.S," Papers 1901.00419, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.
    18. Cho, Joonmo & Lee, Tai & Jung, Hanna, 2014. "Glass ceiling in a stratified labor market: Evidence from Korea," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 56-70.
    19. Albrecht, James & van Vuuren, Aico & Vroman, Susan, 2009. "Counterfactual distributions with sample selection adjustments: Econometric theory and an application to the Netherlands," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 383-396, August.
    20. Joonmo Cho & Taehee Kwon, 2010. "Affirmative Action and Corporate Compliance in South Korea," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 111-139.
    21. Astrid Kunze, 2008. "Gender wage gap studies: consistency and decomposition," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 63-76, August.
    22. Martin Huber & Blaise Melly, 2015. "A Test of the Conditional Independence Assumption in Sample Selection Models," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(7), pages 1144-1168, November.
    23. Cho, Donghun & Cho, Joonmo & Song, Bohwa, 2010. "An empirical analysis of the gender earnings gap between the public and private sectors in Korea: A comparative study with the US," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 441-456, September.
    24. Solomon William Polachek, 1978. "Sex Differences in College Major," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 31(4), pages 498-508, July.
    25. Fernández-Val, Iván & van Vuuren, Aico & Vella, Francis, 2018. "Decomposing Real Wage Changes in the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 12044, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    26. Hara, Hiromi, 2018. "The gender wage gap across the wage distribution in Japan: Within- and between-establishment effects," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 213-229.
    27. 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.
    28. Charlie G. Turner & Elizabeth Monk-Turner, 2007. "Gender differences in occupational status in the South Korean labor market: 1988-1998," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 34(8), pages 554-565, July.
    29. Joonmo Cho & Jaeseong Lee, 2015. "Persistence of the Gender Gap and Low Employment of Female Workers in a Stratified Labor Market: Evidence from South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-27, September.
    30. George J. Borjas, 1980. "The Relationship between Wages and Weekly Hours of Work: The Role of Division Bias," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 15(3), pages 409-423.
    31. M. C. Berger & P. Groothuis & P. Jeon, 1997. "The changing gender wage gap in Korea," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(9), pages 579-582.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tromp, Nikolas & Kwak, Juwon, 2022. "Graduating to a gender wage gap in South Korea," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kaya, Ezgi, 2019. "Gender wage gap across the quantiles:What is the role of firm segregation?," Cardiff Economics Working Papers E2019/7, Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section.
    2. Yamamoto, Yuki & Matsumoto, Ken’ichi & Kawata, Keisuke & Kaneko, Shinji, 2019. "Gender-based differences in employment opportunities and wage distribution in Nepal," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Fortin, Nicole & Lemieux, Thomas & Firpo, Sergio, 2011. "Decomposition Methods in Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 1, pages 1-102, Elsevier.
    4. VAN KERM Philippe & YU Seunghee & CHOE Chung, 2014. "Wage differentials between native, immigrant and cross-border workers: Evidence and model comparisons," LISER Working Paper Series 2014-05, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    5. Cho, Joonmo & Lee, Tai & Jung, Hanna, 2014. "Glass ceiling in a stratified labor market: Evidence from Korea," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 56-70.
    6. Karolina Goraus & Joanna Tyrowicz & Lucas Velde, 2017. "Which Gender Wage Gap Estimates to Trust? A Comparative Analysis," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(1), pages 118-146, March.
    7. Tromp, Nikolas & Kwak, Juwon, 2022. "Graduating to a gender wage gap in South Korea," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    8. Collischon Matthias, 2019. "Is There a Glass Ceiling over Germany?," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 20(4), pages 329-359, December.
    9. Sonja C. Kassenboehmer & Mathias G. Sinning, 2014. "Distributional Changes in the Gender Wage Gap," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(2), pages 335-361, April.
    10. Böheim, René & Himpele, Klemens & Mahringer, Helmut & Zulehner, Christine, 2013. "The distribution of the gender wage gap in Austria : evidence from matched employer-employee data and tax records," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 46(1), pages 19-34.
    11. Domenico Depalo & Raffaela Giordano & Evangelia Papapetrou, 2015. "Public–private wage differentials in euro-area countries: evidence from quantile decomposition analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 985-1015, November.
    12. Arceo-Gómez, Eva O. & Campos-Vázquez, Raymundo M., 2014. "Evolución de la brecha salarial de género en México," El Trimestre Económico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, vol. 0(323), pages .619-653, julio-sep.
    13. Antonczyk, Dirk & Fitzenberger, Bernd & Sommerfeld, Katrin, 2010. "Rising wage inequality, the decline of collective bargaining, and the gender wage gap," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 835-847, October.
    14. Kaya Ezgi, 2021. "Gender wage gap across the distribution: What is the role of within- and between-firm effects?," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-49, January.
    15. Joanna Małgorzata Landmesser, 2019. "Decomposition Of Gender Wage Gap In Poland Using Counterfactual Distribution With Sample Selection," Statistics in Transition New Series, Polish Statistical Association, vol. 20(3), pages 171-186, September.
    16. Daniela Piazzalunga, 2018. "The Gender Wage Gap Among College Graduates in Italy," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 4(1), pages 33-90, March.
    17. Jeremiah Richey & Nikolas Tromp, 2021. "The Black–White wage gap among young men in 1990 versus 2011: With sample selection adjustments," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(4), pages 780-805, October.
    18. Christl, Michael & Köppl-Turyna, Monika, 2017. "Gender wage gap and the role of skills: evidence from PIAAC dataset," GLO Discussion Paper Series 63, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    19. Böheim, René & Himpele, Klemens & Mahringer, Helmut & Zulehner, Christine, 2013. "The distribution of the gender wage gap in Austria : evidence from matched employer-employee data and tax records," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 46(1), pages 19-34.
    20. Victor Chernozhukov & Iván Fernández‐Val & Blaise Melly, 2013. "Inference on Counterfactual Distributions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(6), pages 2205-2268, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender wage gap; Decomposition method; Wage distribution; South korea;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jjieco:v:53:y:2019:i:c:6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622903 .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622903 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.