Structural Inequality amid Crisis: Gender Wage Gaps across Segmented Labor Markets in South Korea during COVID-19

• In Event: Race, Gender and Governance

Abstract

Purpose: In South Korea, the COVID-19 crisis has amplified entrenched gender inequities rooted in a dual labor market structure, disproportionately affecting women in substandard forms of work. This study investigates how Korea’s bifurcated employment system—particularly employment status and occupational gender segregation—has shaped gender wage disparities during the pandemic.

Theoretical Frameworks & Hypotheses

• Hypothesis 1 draws on labor market segmentation theory and the discouraged worker hypothesis, which together suggest that the primary–secondary labor market reinforces wage disparities between genders under external shocks such as the pandemic. As women—overrepresented in part-time positions—were more susceptible to employment shocks amid deteriorating conditions and limited job opportunities caused by COVID-related social distancing, these circumstances are expected to have discouraged their labor supply to a greater extent than that of men primarily employed in the primary labor market, thereby likely exacerbating the gender wage gap across employment types.
  Hypothesis 1: Part-time employment has led to a greater gender wage gap than full-time following COVID-19.

• Hypothesis 2 draws on the crowding hypothesis and the added worker hypothesis, which together suggest that gender composition within occupations reinforces wage disparities between genders during periods of economic crisis. In downturns, women often enter the labor market in place of laid-off male breadwinners. However, their labor is often channeled into feminized sectors—structurally undervalued and undercompensated—due to persistent barriers to male-dominated occupations. This mechanism is expected to have increased women's labor supply in occupations with high female concentration—relative to men in other fields—during the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby likely intensifying the gender wage gap within gendered occupational structures.
  Hypothesis 2: Employment in female-dominated occupations has led to a greater gender wage gap than in other occupational fields following COVID-19.

Data & Method: Utilizing individual-level panel data from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (2016–2020), this study employs a triple difference (DDD) design to identify causal effects. The model includes triple interaction terms between the treatment variable (dual labor market structure), the moderator (gender), and the time period (pre- vs. post-COVID) to assess how Korea’s bifurcated labor system has shaped post-pandemic gender wage disparities. The dependent variable is the natural logarithm of hourly wages. The treatment variable for Hypothesis 1 is employment type (part-time vs. full-time), while that for Hypothesis 2 is occupational gender composition (female-dominated vs. other), with controls for demographic, educational, and institutional characteristics. Pre-treatment trends are examined to validate the parallel trends assumption.

Results: Hypothesis 1 is supported, as part-time employment resulted in a 17% rise in the gender wage gap after COVID-19 (p = 0.022). Hypothesis 2 was not supported; while the effect was positive, it was not statistically significant (p = 0.285).

Conclusion & Policy Implications: This study demonstrates that COVID-19 has deepened structural disadvantages for women outside standard forms of work. In the post-pandemic era, targeted labor policies are needed to ensure job security and equitable pay in precarious or peripheral employment, thereby reducing gendered wage gaps and strengthening resilience to future recessions.

Authors

• Jun Kim, Department of Social Welfare, Ewha Womans University
  Presenting Author

• Youngmin Cho, Ewha Womans University
  Non-Presenting Co-Author