By Choi Sung-jin
The female employment rate reached 55.7 percent in Korea last year, a record high. The rate was below 50 percent for a long time but began to rise in 2012.
However, labor market experts say quantitative growth does not ensure the qualitative improvement of jobs. This is because Korean society is failing to make the most of highly educated women who are rapidly increasing in number, as shown by the women's college entrance rate of 74.6 percent in 2014, compared with 67.6 percent for men.
Most women experience career disruption when they are around 27, on average, because of marriage and children. It takes nearly 10 years for them to return to work, which means they are losing opportunities to accumulate experience in their mid-30s.
Another reason for their abandonment of careers is the glass ceiling.
According to a 2013 report released by GMI, a global corporate governance assessment agency, the share of female executives in Korea's 106 largest listed companies remained at 1.9 percent, at rock-bottom except for Japan.
Many of the women returning to work in their 40s or older are landing non-regular jobs. Although 1.46 million women, or 13.9 percent of the older female workers are engaged in financial and accounting jobs, the rest are working in simple jobs, such as sales clerks, with 1.06 million workers, or 10.1 percent of the total, cooking and serving (1.05 million, 10.1 percent), and other simple labor (630,000, 6.1 percent).
"It is encouraging to see more female workers are finding jobs in health and social services, instead of simple jobs, than five years ago," a researcher at the Korea Women's Development Institute said. "The government needs to develop and implement policies to speed up such a shift by, for instance, improving the quality of such jobs and repairing licensing systems."
By training more women and letting them obtain licenses in areas such as childcare and after-class education, the government can expand employment opportunities and enhance job security for women while providing them with opportunities for self-development and contributions to communities, she said.
The female employment rate reached 55.7 percent in Korea last year, a record high. The rate was below 50 percent for a long time but began to rise in 2012.
However, labor market experts say quantitative growth does not ensure the qualitative improvement of jobs. This is because Korean society is failing to make the most of highly educated women who are rapidly increasing in number, as shown by the women's college entrance rate of 74.6 percent in 2014, compared with 67.6 percent for men.
Most women experience career disruption when they are around 27, on average, because of marriage and children. It takes nearly 10 years for them to return to work, which means they are losing opportunities to accumulate experience in their mid-30s.
Another reason for their abandonment of careers is the glass ceiling.
According to a 2013 report released by GMI, a global corporate governance assessment agency, the share of female executives in Korea's 106 largest listed companies remained at 1.9 percent, at rock-bottom except for Japan.
Many of the women returning to work in their 40s or older are landing non-regular jobs. Although 1.46 million women, or 13.9 percent of the older female workers are engaged in financial and accounting jobs, the rest are working in simple jobs, such as sales clerks, with 1.06 million workers, or 10.1 percent of the total, cooking and serving (1.05 million, 10.1 percent), and other simple labor (630,000, 6.1 percent).
"It is encouraging to see more female workers are finding jobs in health and social services, instead of simple jobs, than five years ago," a researcher at the Korea Women's Development Institute said. "The government needs to develop and implement policies to speed up such a shift by, for instance, improving the quality of such jobs and repairing licensing systems."
By training more women and letting them obtain licenses in areas such as childcare and after-class education, the government can expand employment opportunities and enhance job security for women while providing them with opportunities for self-development and contributions to communities, she said.
