Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

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

The Committee notes the observations from the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and the Federation of Korean Employers (KFE), annexed to the report, and the Government’s reply thereon.

Practical measures to address the gender wage gap. Further to its observation, the Committee notes that the Government considers that the wage gap between men and women largely stems from women taking career breaks and indicates that measures have been taken to address career interruptions by women and assist women in combining work and family responsibilities, including maternity leave, childcare leave and shorter working hours, the provision of childcare services, provision of vocational training and employment services during career break, including increasing the number of New Job Centres for Women to support re-employment of women taking career breaks. The Committee recalls the importance of measures addressing the underlying causes of the gender pay gap, in particular gender stereotyping and occupational segregation of women in lower-paying or non-regular types of employment and refers in this regard to its present comment on the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), and its 2011 observation on the Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156). The Committee asks the Government to provide comprehensive information on all measures taken or envisaged to identify and address the underlying causes of the gender wage gap, and the results achieved by these measures and the measures previously indicated by the Government to reduce the wage gap between men and women in public and private sectors.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation and application in job-based wage systems. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it is encouraging employers to adopt a merit or performance-based pay system and as part of the efforts, it has been providing consulting services to 100 workplaces in 2013; consulting services will increase to 200 in 2014 and then increase by 100 each year. The Government also indicates that participants in the “programme for Innovative Leaders” will be educated on how to improve the evaluation system of workers’ performance pay and bonus system. The Government indicates that the number of enterprises that applied the performance-based pay systems such as the annual salary system and the performance-based bonus system has been steadily increasing. The number of enterprises that have adopted the annual salary system increased from 61.8 per cent in 2009 to 66.7 per cent in 2012, while enterprises that have adopted a performance-based bonus system increased from 36.5 per cent in 2009 to 39.9 per cent in 2012. The Committee notes, however, that according to the FKTU difficulties continue to exist in ensuring compliance in female dominated industries, especially to determine to what extent the different work performed by men and women can be considered work of equal value. The FKTU indicates that since the annual salary system is very common in Korea, many difficulties exist in understanding the concept of equal value. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken to improve understanding of the principle of the Convention and the concept of equal value, among workers and employers and their organizations, in enterprises that have adopted or wish to adopt an annual salary system, and to promote the use of objective job evaluation in this context. It also asks the Government to continue to provide information on the number of enterprises that have adopted performance-based pay systems (annual salary systems and performance-based bonus systems) and the number of enterprises that have undertaken objective job evaluation in this context. Given the very high and persistent gender wage gap, please provide information on any other measures taken to promote the application of the principle of the Convention at enterprise level in the context of human resource management and pay systems, and to indicate the results secured by such action.

Parts III and IV of the report form. Enforcement. The Committee notes that according to the FKTU, despite the fact that many workplaces are consistently monitored, it remains very difficult to apply the principle of equal value in industrial sectors or occupations in which women are predominantly employed. The Committee notes that the Government provides general information that inspections have been undertaken in workplaces in which women are predominantly employed in accordance with the 2011 Labour Inspection Plan and that a total of 1,200 workplaces were to be inspected in the first half and second half of 2013. The Government further indicates that in 2012, inspection activities covered 1,132 workplaces resulting in the detection of 6,627 violations. However, the Committee notes that out of these, none of the violations concerned wage discrimination while 5,910 violations were classified as “other violations” and apparently unrelated to unequal pay or discrimination issues. Considering the large gender wage gap and the continuing absence of violations concerning wage discrimination detected by the labour inspectorate, the Committee urges the Government to take more effective steps to improve the enforcement of the equal pay legislation, including by activities to raise awareness of the specific legislation and enhance the capacity of the labour inspectors, judges and public officials, to identify and address cases of unequal pay, and to examine whether the applicable substantive and procedural provisions, in practice, allow claims to be brought successfully. Please also provide information on any new court decisions regarding the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value as guaranteed under the legislation and the Convention.