"Working the Same Month, Yet Men Earn 4.39 Million Won and Women 2.85 Million Won"

[Financial News] The average monthly wage of female workers in South Korea stood at just 64.8% of men's wages.
On the 31st, KWDI analyzed the main features of the gender wage gap in South Korea based on the 2026 Gender Statistics of Korea to examine the state of labor market gender equality during Gender Equality Week.

According to MOEL's Survey on Labor Conditions by Employment Type, the average monthly wage in 2024 for workers at companies with one or more employees was 2.851 million won for women and 4.398 million won for men. Women's average monthly wage was 64.8% of men's, a difference of 1.547 million won.
Among wage workers at companies with five or more employees, the share earning less than 3 million won a month was 57.1% for women and 25.1% for men, a gap of 32 percentage points. By contrast, 14.5% of women and 37.2% of men earned at least 5 million won a month, leaving men 22.7 percentage points higher.
However, when measured by hourly fixed wages, women's pay was 74.1% of men's, indicating a narrower gap. This is believed to reflect the fact that many women move into part-time work because of childcare and other responsibilities, which reduces their total pay more sharply.
By industry, human health and social work services showed the lowest female wage ratio at 54% of men's wages. However, industry wage levels do not necessarily mean wage differences for the same job under the same conditions.
In human health and social work services, the average monthly wage was 2.73 million won for women and 5.06 million won for men, a gap of 2.33 million won.
Transportation and warehousing had the smallest gap, at 93.3%. In finance and insurance, both women and men earned the highest incomes, at 6.273 million won and 8.105 million won respectively, but women's wages were still only 77.4% of men's.

Women in South Korea also face low wages by international standards. According to OECD data, South Korea's gender wage gap in 2024, measured as the difference between men's and women's wages relative to men's wages, was 29%, about 2.9 times the OECD average of 10.1%. The share of low-paid female workers in South Korea was 23.8% in 2024, 6.1 percentage points higher than the OECD average for women of 16.9%.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and KWDI are pushing to introduce an employment equality disclosure system next year to help close the gender wage gap. KWDI plans to support the system's effective implementation by preparing legislative background materials, developing a disclosure manual, and providing customized support services for companies.
Kim Jong-sook, president of KWDI, said, "The gender wage gap is not simply a matter of the average wage difference between women and men. It is also an issue that requires us to look at what kinds of jobs women and men hold and what opportunities they receive in the labor market." She added, "We will continue policy efforts to bring about meaningful improvement in gender disparities in the labor market."
[email protected] An Ga-eul Reporter