[THE INVESTOR] A recent report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation showed that four out of 10 working women in South Korea are underpaid, and the ratio is the highest among the member countries of the economic organization.

The ratio of female workers who received wages below two thirds the national average reached 37.8 percent in 2014, the highest among 22 OECD members checked and 6.8 percentage points more than No. 2 Ireland's number of 31 percent.

The figure has steadily fallen from 45.8 percent in 2000 to below 40 percent, but it is still higher than the ratio of underpaid Korean working men at 15.4 percent.

The figure for men is 11th among the 22 OECD members reviewed, the report showed.

The concentration of women in low-paying jobs was above that of major economies including the United States, Great Britain, Germany and Japan, which all remained below the 30 percent mark, the OECD report showed.

The gender pay gap was largely attributable to the comparably larger number of qualified women leaving their jobs for child care who later have difficulties in finding higher-paying employment.

Experts say the public and private sectors should make concerted efforts to utilize highly educated women and help them retain their jobs by expanding childcare programs. 

"The short-term employment support measures have their own limits," Jung Sung-mi, a researcher at the Korea Labor Institute, said.

"The government needs to create a positive work environment so that the highly educated women in the core age groups can enter and remain on the job and continue working for their long-term careers."

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)