By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Korea has the widest gender gap in wages among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries ― women earn only 61 percent of what their male peers make on average, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO), Monday.
New Zealand was the most equal in terms of wage, with women making 91 percent of men's average income. The ratio was 89 percent for France and Poland, while most advanced countries had a ratio hovering around 80 percent. The OECD average ratio was 81 percent.
The statistical office cited unfavorable labor markets for women behind the significant gender wage gap ― over 40 percent of female wage workers are holding temporary work contracts, while the ratio is only 15 percent for males.
They are also missing out on wage increases as they often have to take time-off from work to take care of babies while most of the companies raise pay according to the length of service instead of performance.
The OECD recommended that Korean workplaces become more family-friendly, in a report titled ``Babies and Bosses ― Policies toward reconciling work and family life.'' ``Rather than expecting women to leave regular employment around childbirth, workplaces need to give mothers more opportunities to stay in or return to regular employment,'' it said. The organization also pointed out that very few women, only 8 percent, have supervisory responsibilities.
``There is a clear labor market need for a greater female labor force participation, as without this, the Korean labor force is projected to decline in future,'' added the report.
Korea's birth rate of around 1.3 children per woman is a dramatic fall from 1960 when it was six children per woman.
Another statistic showed that the burden of childcare costs is hindering women from having more babies. According to a survey of 1,500 females by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, 44 percent were willing to have more kids if childcare costs decreased by half.