The gender pay gap at South Korea’s major conglomerates still hovers near 30 percent while women make up roughly one-quarter of the workforce, a report showed Sunday.
According to an analysis of the 2024 business report by the Korea CXO Institute, women accounted for 25 percent of employees at 150 major conglomerates across key industries. The figure marks a 0.3 percentage point increase from 24.7 percent in 2023.
Employment changes by gender at 150 major corporations over the past two years (The CXO Institute) From a year earlier, the number of female employees increased by 2,876 while their male counterparts declined by 1,890.
By company, Samsung Electronics employed the largest number of female workers at 34,567, followed by Emart with 14,515, Lotte Shopping with 12,579, and SK Hynix with 10,897.
By industry, women accounted for more than half of employees in the retail and trading sector (51.2 percent) and the financial sector (50.9 percent). The share was also relatively high in the food (42.0 percent) and transportation (38.4 percent) industries. In contrast, female representation remained below 10 percent in manufacturing-heavy sectors such as steel (5.3 percent), automobiles (7.4 percent) and machinery (7.7 percent).
The gender pay disparity remained pronounced. As of 2024, women earned around 71.3 percent of their male counterparts’ pay, marking an average annual salary of 70.9 million won ($47,744), which stood below the male employees’ pay of 99.4 million won. The pay gap stood at 28.7 percent, narrowing by 1.5 percentage points from 30.2 percent in 2023, but still close to 30 percent.
Across the 15 industries analyzed, none recorded a higher average salary for women than for men. The pharmaceutical sector showed the smallest gap, with women earning an average of 71.9 million won, or 80.4 percent of the 89.4 million won earned by male employees.
A total of 19 companies reported an average annual salary for female employees exceeding 100 million won. NH Investment & Securities topped the list at 131.9 million won, followed by Samsung Securities (124.7 million won), Mirae Asset Securities (119.6 million won), Samsung Life Insurance (119.0 million won), and SK Telecom (117.0 million won).
Oh Il-sun, head of the Korea CXO Institute, noted that 62.7 percent of the 150 major conglomerates increased female hiring in 2024. He added that companies are likely to become more proactive in securing skilled female talent amid demographic changes such as the country’s declining birthrate.
Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions chant slogans during the March 8 International Women’s Day National Workers’ Rally held near Gwanghwamun in Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap) soeunshin0156@heraldcorp.com