Korea vs United States: Incidence of low and high pay — Low pay incidence
Incidence of low and high pay — Low pay incidence over time
- Korea
- United States
How they compare
United States currently reports 22.51 Percentage of full-time employment against 15.83 Percentage of full-time employment in Korea, a difference of 6.68 Percentage of full-time employment.
That makes United States's figure about 1.4 times Korea's.
The two have swapped places 3 times across 35 shared years of data; in 1985 it was Korea ahead.
Korea ranks 3rd and United States ranks 5th of 3 groups.
Across the 5 decades both report, Korea averaged higher in 2 and United States in 3.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Korea | United States | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 24.88 Percentage of full-time employment | 23.73 Percentage of full-time employment | 1.15 Percentage of full-time employment | Korea |
| 1990s | 22.79 Percentage of full-time employment | 24.53 Percentage of full-time employment | 1.74 Percentage of full-time employment | United States |
| 2000s | 24.86 Percentage of full-time employment | 24.12 Percentage of full-time employment | 0.7408 Percentage of full-time employment | Korea |
| 2010s | 22.61 Percentage of full-time employment | 24.76 Percentage of full-time employment | 2.15 Percentage of full-time employment | United States |
| 2020s | 16.11 Percentage of full-time employment | 22.94 Percentage of full-time employment | 6.83 Percentage of full-time employment | United States |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher incidence of low and high pay — low pay incidence, Korea or United States?
- United States, at 22.51 Percentage of full-time employment against 15.83 Percentage of full-time employment in Korea as of 2025.
- What is the difference in incidence of low and high pay — low pay incidence between Korea and United States?
- 6.68 Percentage of full-time employment, with United States ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Korea and United States?
- 35 years are reported by both, from 1985 to 2025.
- How do Korea and United States rank globally for incidence of low and high pay — low pay incidence?
- Korea ranks 3rd and United States ranks 5th of 3 groups.
- Where does this data come from?
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as Incidence of low and high pay — Low pay incidence. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
This dataset contains series on the incidence of low-paid workers defined as the share of full-time workers earning less than two-thirds of gross median earnings of all full-time workers; the incidence of high-paid workers defined as the share of full-time workers earning more than one-and-half time gross median earnings of all full-time workers.