South Korean women at work: gender wage differentials by age, 1988–1998

Abstract

Earning differences between South Korean women and men were compared to better understand how gender differences in wages have changed between 1988 and 1998 for five age groups. Utilizing labor market data from Korea's Occupational Wage Survey (OWS) for the years 1988 and 1998, we found that men enjoy a wage advantage over women in all age groups in both time periods. For all but the oldest group (55 and over), such bias was less in 1998 than in 1988. As hypothesized, the wage gap was narrower among younger age groups compared with older ones.

Keywords:

• labor
• wages
• gender
• age cohorts

JEL Classification:

• J

Notes

*Standard errors in parentheses.