Gender Discrimination
According to business reports of the nation’s top 20 listed firms (financial companies excluded) on April 13, the median earnings of male employees of Korea’s 19 largest companies (SK Networks excluded) was 86 million won (US$82,732) last year. This number is 1.47 times as high as the 58 million won (US$55,796) median of female workers, and the annual income difference between genders amounts to approximately 30 million won (US$28,860).
The biggest gender wage gap was reportedly in Dawoo International, as male median yearly earnings were more than twice the figure for women in 2013. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (1.83 times), S-Oil (1.78 times), and Korea Gas Corporation (1.71 times) were said to have a large income difference. On the other hand, the gender earnings disparity of KT (1.15 times), the Hyundai Motor Company (1.22 times), Kia Motors (1.30 times), POSCO (1.36 times), and Samsung Electronics (1.38 times) was reportedly smaller than other companies.
The average annual salary of men working at Samsung Electronics was 112 million won (US$107,744), which is the highest among the top 19. Hyundai Motor paid its female employees the highest last year, 78 million won (US$75,036) on average.
The gap between men and women in the number of years of service was six on average, but there were big differences per company.