The narrowing gender wage gap in South Korea

摘要

This paper investigates the Korean gender wage gap in 2003 and 2016 as well as its changes over time. Using data from the Economically Active Population Survey and unconditional quantile regressions, the wage gap is decomposed at selected quantiles across the wage distribution. The log wage gap forms an inverted-U shape across the distribution. Between 2003 and 2016, the log wage gap falls by 32%, 45%, 35% and 25% at the mean, 10th, 50th and 90th quantiles. Reductions in structural and composition effects drive the fall at the bottom and middle of the distribution, while smaller reductions in structural effects result in the smaller fall at the top. Reductions in gender differences in tenure, regular worker status, education and occupations are associated with the fall in the wage gap over time. However, these variables continue to play important roles in the wage gap in 2016.