Public sector gender pay gap falls below 20% for 1st time

The gender pay gap at Korea's public institutions fell below 20 percent for the first time on record, part of a broader trend seen across the private sector as well.

Women at public institutions earned an average of 60.56 million won ($45,300) in 2025, 19 percent less than men's 74.79 million won, according to a gender wage statistics survey released by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on Monday. The survey covered 3,146 companies subject to disclosure requirements and 355 public institutions.

The gap narrowed 1 percentage point from a year earlier, the first time it has fallen below 20 percent since the ministry began compiling the statistics in 2020. Women's wages at public institutions rose 4.1 percent from a year earlier, outpacing a 2.9 percent gain for men. Average tenure stood at 10.6 years for men and 8.7 years for women, narrowing the tenure gap 1.8 percentage points to 18.1 percent.

"Public institutions have wage systems that strictly limit gender discrimination, while private companies are less affected by those systems," said Kim Sung-hee, a professor at Korea University's Graduate School of Labor Studies, adding that women at private companies still face greater difficulty entering higher-paying occupations.

"It has been decades since the 1989 revision to the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. Continued institutional efforts, such as budgeting and evaluating policies based on their impact on gender equality, have translated those gaps into concrete measures. As a result, the gender pay gap has been narrowing."

Public disclosure companies showed a wider gap. Women there earned an average of 72.16 million won and men earned 102.03 million won, a gap of 29.3 percent. The private sector's gap also narrowed 1.4 percentage points from a year earlier.

Women's wages climbed 6.5 percent from a year earlier, outpacing a 4.3 percent gain for men. The share of female workers rose from 27.1 percent to 27.4 percent. Their average tenure increased from 9.4 to 9.5 years, narrowing the tenure gap 1.1 percentage points to 19.8 percent.

Wholesale and retail work had the widest gender pay gap at 42.29 percent, followed by construction at 42.26 percent. Accommodation and food service had the narrowest gap at 14.2 percent, followed by arts, sports and leisure-related services at 15.6 percent.

Despite the improvement, at 29 percent in 2024 based on full-time workers' median income, Korea's overall gender wage gap remains the largest among OECD member countries. Japan followed at 20.7 percent, Estonia at 19.8 percent, the United States at 17.3 percent and Britain at 13.1 percent. The OECD average stood at 10.3 percent.