Gender inequality of job security: veiling glass ceiling in Korea

This study analyzes the potential existence of a glass ceiling effect in Korea. Previous studies considered the wage gap between genders and could not identify a glass ceiling effect in Korea; by contrast, this study considers gaps in job security as well as wage between genders and empirically identifies the existence of a glass ceiling. Taking job security into account shows that women workers suffer from the glass ceiling effect more seriously in the upper middle quantile, even if they are in regular jobs. Based on the empirical results presented here, social policy supports are suggested to ensure job retention of women workers as well as reduce the wage gap in countries intending to break the glass ceiling in the labor market. The empirical results in this paper provide some policy insights for developing countries facing the dual structure of the labor market as well as gender discrimination.