Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Republic of Korea (Ratification: 1997)

The Committee takes note of the Government’s report and the supplementary information provided in light of the decision adopted by the Governing Body at its 338th Session (June 2020).

The Committee also notes the observations of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), communicated with the Government’s report, as well as the observations of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) received on 20 September 2019. It further notes the observations of the KCTU communicated with the Government’s supplementary information, as well as the comments of the Government on those observations.

Article 2 of the Convention. Practical measures to address the gender pay gap and its underlying causes. In its previous request, the Committee asked the Government to continue providing information on the measures taken or envisaged to identify and address the causes of the gender pay gap, and on the results achieved in this regard, both in the public and private sectors. In its report, the Government reiterates that job segregation in the labour market and career interruption during childbirth and childcare periods are the major reasons for the gender pay gap (on average, women with career interruptions earn 14.7 per cent less than women without such interruptions). It indicates that consequently it has taken measures to ease the burden for both male and female workers with family responsibilities and prevent career interruption for women (for example childcare leave benefits increased, greater incentive for paternity leave, childcare facilities expanded, taking greater account of gender perspective in designing transport connectivity, etc.). In this regard, the Committee refers to its comments on the application of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), and the Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156). The Government recalls that companies subject to the Affirmative Action legislation enacted in 2006 (that is, companies with levels of female representation lower than the legal standard of 60 per cent of average female share in the industry) are required to set goals voluntarily to improve the employment of women. The Government indicates that, previously, only employers with low performance in affirmative action were requested to submit information on the gender pay gap as well as a plan for addressing such gap. As of 2020, this requirement is expanded to all employers. Every year, the Government publishes a list of employers that have made poor or insufficient efforts towards affirmative action. On 1 September 2020, 51 private enterprises and one public institution were named publicly. In reply to the KCTU’s observation that, as there are practically no penalties or incentives for employers who are not required to adopt measures, this system has little effect on the actual pay gap, the Government points out that it mandates all employers with affirmative action measures to submit a report on the gender pay gap in their business and to analyze the reasons for the gap. The Government concludes that this encourages businesses to improve voluntarily the gender pay gap and strengthens the effectiveness of the system. The Government emphasizes that, since 2012, the gender pay gap has been declining and that, according to the 2019 joint report from the ILO and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) “Women at Work in G20 countries: Progress and policy action”, the decline of the gender gap in the labour participation force was greater than expected in the Republic of Korea. The Government pledges to continue to implement measures to promote women’s employment, strengthening support to ensure a continuous improvement in the gender pay gap.

The Committee notes the FKTU’s and KCTU’s observations pointing out that the Republic of Korea is the OECD Member with the largest gender wage gap. According to OECD data, whereas the average gender wage gap among its Members was 13 for 2018, it stood at 34.1 for the Republic of Korea, that is 10.6 points above the country with the second highest gap. For 2019, the OECD data shows that the gender pay gap for Korea decreased to 32.5. It also notes that, according to the OECD report, the gender gap in earnings and in the incidence of low pay are partly explained by gender segregation by occupation, with women more concentrated into lower paying occupations than men. In contrast, the proportion of women in higher paying occupations, such as managers, remains low in all G20 economies, with especially low figures for the Republic of Korea, as women accounted for only around 15 per cent of all managerial jobs in 2018. In addition, the Committee notes the Government’s indication, in reply to the FKTU’s observations on pay transparency, that it is considering implementing a wage disclosure system (requiring the release of wage information by gender, employment type, occupation, etc.) after consultation with the social partners and relevant governmental offices. Finally, the Committees notes the KCTU’s observations that the main factors contributing to the gender wage gap are: (1) gender segregation and discrimination in job classification, especially in the finance sector; (2) discrimination in promotion; (3) refusal to disclose wage structures; (4) underestimation of women’s jobs; and (5) employment of women as non-regular workers. In light of the persistent gender wage gap and occupational gender segregation of the labour market, the Committee asks the Government: (i) to step up its efforts to address effectively the existing gender wage gap and more generally to achieve gender equality in employment and occupation; (ii) to continue providing information on all measures taken or envisaged to address the root causes of the gender pay gap, and the results achieved by these measures in the public and private sectors; (iii) to provide information on the progress made towards the adoption of a wage disclosure system and the results obtained; and (iv) to provide information on any assessment carried out of the impact of the Affirmative Action legislation in addressing the gender pay gap.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation and its application in job-based wage systems. The Committee recalls that, since in the Republic of Korea salaries tend to be based on years of service to a given company (annual salary system), there is still some difficulty in understanding the concept of equal value, hence its previous request for information on the measures taken to improve understanding of the concept of work of equal value among workers and employers and their organizations, in particular in enterprises that have adopted or wish to adopt an annual salary system and to promote the use of objective job evaluation methods in this context. The Committee notes the Government’s undertaking that it will continue to build a wage infrastructure for equal pay for work of equal value by developing job evaluation tools in eight sectors of the economy (including banking, healthcare, information technology, pharmaceuticals and steel) and collecting wage information by business size, sector, occupation and position. It also notes the Government’s indication that, in 2019, the “Workplace Innovation Consulting program” helped 789 enterprises in reforming and improving their wage and job evaluation systems. It further notes that, in order to support businesses’ voluntary efforts to address existing gender pay gap and raise awareness, the Government produced and distributed in 2018 a publication entitled “Equal Pay Makes Gender Equality at Work!” as well as “Guidelines for Implementation of Equal Pay” and, in January 2020, distributed a “Guideline on job-based personnel management” which includes information on how to reform wage system and best practices, job analysis and evaluation methods to introduce a human resources management system based on job responsibility and methods to simplify wage composition. The Government adds that there are continuous discussions with the social partners in the Economic, Social and Labour Council (ESCL) and industry-specific committees regarding the job-based wage system. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to promote the understanding and implementation of the concept of work of equal value by the employers, workers and their organizations. It also requests the Government to provide detailed information, including statistics, on the number of enterprises that have adopted performance-based pay systems and carried-out objective job evaluations, particularly in the eight sectors of the economy identified above and also in sectors in which women are predominantly employed. In this regard, it asks the Government to indicate the measures put in place to ensure that job evaluation and the remuneration process are carried out in a gender-inclusive way to ensure that performance pay systems not only do not discriminate against women, but also achieve the purpose of improved organizational performance, in both the public and the private sectors.

Enforcement. Labour inspection. In its previous comment, the Committee asked the Government to: (1) step up its efforts to improve the enforcement of the equal pay legislation; (2) provide information on the preventive and enforcement activities of labour inspectors, specifically targeting equality and equal remuneration; and (3) examine whether the applicable substantive and procedural provisions in force allow claims for unequal remuneration between men and women workers to be brought successfully. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government, notably that it offers, every year, a training course to labour inspectors, entitled “Understanding the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance System” and is planning to train labour inspectors on different types of workplace gender discrimination, including wage inequality, and how to prevent them. As regards enforcement, the Government indicates that, in 2018: (1) 25,000 workplaces were the subject of investigations by labour inspectors following allegations of wage discrimination; and (2) an anonymous gender discrimination reporting centre was created to facilitate the filing of claims, including against wage inequality. In addition, the Government indicates that it is in the process of amending relevant laws in order to introduce remedy procedures against gender discrimination and allow the National Labour Commission to handle allegations of gender discrimination. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to reinforce the capacity of labour inspectors to prevent gender pay discrimination and enforce the principle of the Convention. More specifically, it requests the Government to provide information on any legislative developments aiming to facilitate the filing and treatment of claims. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the results of 25,000 inspections carried out, in particular the proportion of such violations related to gender pay inequalities, the number of women workers concerned and the imposition of any civil penalties.