The Republic of Korea

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The Government of the Republic of Korea has been making efforts to ease the gender pay gap. In 2018, it revised the Equal Employment Opportunity Act for applying to all workplaces. Currently, workplaces with fewer than five full-time workers have been exempt from the provisions.
In 2018, workplaces with poor performance in affirmative action are required to submit their gender pay gap status and plan to improve it. To ensure that the principle of equal pay for work of equal value takes root in the workplace, the Government plans to develop and distribute “Guidelines for the Implementation of Equal Pay” for businesses in 2018.

The Government is also expanding the target companies of Affirmative Action. In 2018, AA will be fully applied across the public sector to create decent work for women and increase the share of female managers. It aims to further expand the target to include private businesses with 300 employees and more by 2022.

The government has strengthened gender assessment of employment effects, such as employment types and wage levels by gender, when conducting employment impact assessment of major policies (2018).

The Korean Government will make efforts to achieve the equal pay for work of equal value.
Given the limited resources, we believe that, under the strategic policy coherence and the shared visions, the EPIC will have to prioritize clear actions at the national levels as well as at the global one.
In the Asia and the Pacific region, it is necessary to promote cross-learning and sharing of experiences in equal pay for work of equal value. The EPIC will be able to support the member states in the area of the development of regional roadmap or strategy on equal pay for work of equal value.
Peer to Peer exchange among the Asia and the Pacific countries in similar socioeconomic circumstances is likely to promote cross-learning and the sharing of experiences on good practices and innovative approaches.

Technical assistance including the distribution of guidelines on equal pay is also required. EPIC’s proposed global knowledge-sharing platform for disseminating research findings and tools on equal pay for work of equal value will have strong potential to promote gender equality in pay in the Asia and the Pacific area.