The wage gap between men and women has widened further for the past five years, according to a congressional investigation.

 

According to Congressman Lee In-young (New Politics Alliance for Democracy) on October 6, based on data provided by the National Tax Service, the average annual pay of women workers in 2012 was 29.22 million won, 35 percent (or 15.93 million won) lower than that for men counterparts who earned 45.15 million won in the same year.

 

The wage gap in 2008 was 33 percent, or 13.99 million won, when female workers won 28.36 million won and male workers 42.35 million won. During the same period, the average income growth rate for men was 6.6 percent while that for women falling short of 3.0 percent.

 

As much as the problem of gender wage gap has worsened, the issue of income polarization has also intensified. The average compensation for the top 1 percentile male workers was 297.83 million won in 2012 while that for the bottom 1 percentile was 8.81 million won, with the difference reaching almost 34 times. As for female workers, the difference is more than 16 times between 142.28 million won on one extreme and 8.73 million won on the other.

 

The National Assemblyman said, "Although the number of female workers and their average pay have increased steadily since 2008, the absolute level of income for women is still low and their income growth rate is falling short of a half of that for men. The government and corporations need to come up with solutions to help increase the wage level of women workers."