S Korea posts lowest employment rate for educated women among OECD countries

South Korea appears to have the lowest employment rate for women with high levels of education among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Seoul-based institute said on Wednesday.

South Korea's employment rate for women with high education degrees between the age of 25 and 64 was 61.2 percent in 2007, at the bottom among the OECD member countries, according to data released by the Korean Women's Development Institute on Wednesday.

Norway and Sweden boast the highest rates of women employment with 88.8 percent, followed by 85.8 percent in the United Kingdom. Turkey and Japan are near the bottom with 63.5 and 66.1 percent, respectively. The OECD average stands at 79.5 percent.

The overall employment rate for women aged 15 to 64 in South Korea posts 52.2 percent as of 2009, significantly below the OECD average of 77.2 percent.

Accordingly, the gap between employment rates for men and women registers 21.4 percent as of 2009, 4.6 percent higher than the OECD members' average of 16.7 percent.

Source:Xinhua