Gender income gap in South Korea despite rise in female employment 

While the employment rate for women in South Korea has exceeded 60% for the first time in 2022, the gender income gap remains high, according to a government report released by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. 

The data showed that the rate of employed women between the ages of 15-64 in South Korea jumped up 7.3% points from the rate back in 2010, but with caveats: 22.8% of the women were in low-paying positions, which was twice the rate of men in similar employed positions. 46% of the women employed were also in temporary work positions, which was 15.4% higher than 30.6% of male employees, reported Yonhap News Agency.

The income wage gap between the genders also remained wide: female salaried employees only saw 70% of the hourly wages as earned by male employees in the same positions, and with monthly salaries, women received some 2.68 million won (USD $2,009) in wages whereas men were paid 4.13 million won (USD $3,102.24) in 2022.

READ MORE: Employment among senior women grows in South Korea

The number of women who became unemployed in 2022 reached 1.39 million as of April 2022, with 17.2% of them choosing to quit to get married or raise children. On average, women are estimated to spend two hours and 17 minutes more than men when it comes to doing household chores, but the men spend two more hours of work on average job-seeking in 2019.