Women versus Men: Comparisons of Three Types of Transfers in Korea and the U.S.

This article reports on a study of the extent to which the gap between women and men's income levels narrow down in Korea and the United States when social insurance benefits, non-social insurance public transfers, and private transfers are distributed in incremental ways. The major findings were that transfer activities are still in their infancy in Korea compared with the United States; gender-based gaps do not narrow down in Korea to the same extent as they do in the United States; and in Korea women have to go further to catch up with men with respect to the factors related in attachment to labor force than do women in the United States. The data is drawn from the Korean Labor & Income Panel Study and the Current Population Survey of the United States.