By Choi Sung-jin
Overall working conditions for Korean laborers have improved, but the gap between men and women has widened, a think tank says.
According to Hyundai Research Institute, the gap between male and female laborers working in “good jobs” remains wide and has even increased a little over the past decade or so.
The institute defines “good” jobs on the basis of employment security and income. In other words, it terms regular jobs that guarantee a certain level of income or higher as “good” jobs and the opposite as “bad jobs.”
The Hyundai Group think tank noted that job quality in the domestic labor market has been steadily improving. The number of good jobs increased from 4.14 million in 2006 to 6.74 million in 2015, a 2.6 million increase. The share of good jobs also rose from 27 percent to 34.9 percent, it said.
During the period, the number of bad jobs increased 730,000, from 4.58 million to 5.31 million with their share falling from 29.8 percent to 27.5 percent.
Accordingly, the number of laborers working in good jobs is also rising.
The share of men working in good jobs expanded from 22.5 percent in 2006 to 27.7 percent last year, up 5.2 percentage points, while the portion of male laborers working in bad jobs dropped 2 percentage points, from 13.2 percent to 11.2 percent.
In the case of female workers, the share of laborers working in good jobs rose from 4.5 percent to 7.2 percent, an increase of 2.7 percentage points. The share of those working in bad jobs fell a little, from 16.6 percent to 16.3 percent.
These figures indicate that although overall working conditions are improving, the gap between male and female workers engaging in good jobs has widened.
The gap between men and women working in good jobs widened from 18 percentage points to 20.5 percentage points over the cited period.
“The nation needs to improve working conditions for female workers benefitting relatively less from improved labor market,” said Chun Jye-young, a senior fellow at the institute. “Particularly, there should be legislation that prohibits discrimination in employment and treatment while strengthening childcare support.”