The wage gap between men and women working in publicly listed companies and other entities subject to disclosure last year widened compared to the previous year. It rose from 26.3% in 2023 to 30.7% last year, amounting to 30.07 million won.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced the results of a gender wage gap survey containing this information on the 5th.
The Ministry analyzes gender wage statistics published annually from companies subject to disclosure and public institutions in accordance with the Basic Act on Gender Equality. The gender wage gap is investigated by analyzing the business reports of companies and information related to gender wages disclosed in the Public Institution Management Information Disclosure System (ALIO).
According to this survey, the average wage for men in the last year was 97.8 million won. For women, it was 67.73 million won. The average wage for men decreased from the previous year, but the decrease for women was 6.7%, larger than that of men (0.8%). For this reason, the Ministry noted that the average wage gap between men and women appears to have widened compared to last year.
Additionally, the widening gender wage gap in industries with a large number of employees is cited as one of the reasons for the increasing wage gap between men and women. The manufacturing industry rose from 20.0% in 2023 to 29.1% in 2024, an increase of 9.1 percentage points. In the information and communications sector, it increased from 30.3% to 34.6%, a rise of 4.3 percentage points, while the finance and insurance sector rose from 30.2% to 31.2%, an increase of 1.0 percentage point.
By industry, the wage gap between men and women was the largest in wholesale and retail trades at 44.1%. This was followed by construction (41.6%) and information and communications (34.6%). Conversely, industries with smaller wage gaps included arts, sports, and leisure services (15.8%), accommodation and restaurant services (17.7%), and electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply (22.5%).
The average length of service for men and women working in publicly listed companies was found to be 11.8 years for men and 9.4 years for women. The gap in length of service by gender is 20.9%, down from the previous year (23.0%).
The average wage for men employed by public institutions was recorded at 72.67 million won. For women, it was 58.16 million won, with men earning 14.51 million won more. The gender wage gap is 20%, down from the previous year (22.7%), a decrease of 2.7 percentage points.
The average length of service in public institutions is 10.5 years for men and 8.4 years for women. The gender gap in length of service is 19.9%, down from the previous year (29%).
The Ministry plans to include various variables such as age, position, employment type, career interruption, and job characteristics in future analyses of the gender wage gap to identify the causes of the disparities and work to reduce these gaps.