Gender Earning Gaps and Return to Schooling in Korea

Abstract

The Mincerian earnings functions are estimated using cross section and time series data for Korea during the 1993-2002 period. Male and female workers with university and higher education earn 1.8 and 2.9 times more than those with middle school and under education in 2002, respectively. Korean women earn 78 percent of the hourly rate of average Korean man and the gender gap is found to decline. The year when all workers get the highest wage rate in their working span is around 48 years old. The rate of return to schooling for all workers is found to be around 7 percent. The return for males, 6 percent, is lower than that for females, 8 percent. The rate of return of experience is estimated to be 1.1 percent. The wage premiums for senior officers and managers, and professionals are 78, and 28 percent.