“Powerful Korea Is on Women`s Hand“

The report titled `Woman Korea`, made by a consulting company McKinsey, advised that Korea` prospect to become an advanced country by 2010 depends on the use of women.

McKinsey judges that the standard to join the advanced nations is to become one of top 10 among the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) members by raising gross domestic product (GDP) per head to 31,000 dollar, which is the average of top 16 OECD members.

McKinsey report stresses that making use of woman workforces to the level of advanced countries is not the `optional` or `supplementary` measure that extends the range of available workforces, but `absolutely` necessary assignment. McKinsey explains the reason that Korea should generate 3 million new jobs (professionals 1.2 million) by 2010, but available workforces of Korea is far from it.

The male workforces are above the average of the OECD by the people aged 25 to 64. But woman workforces are a totally different story. The rate of college graduates among 25 to 64 women is 11 percent, which is below the average, however the rate of highly educated women in between 25 to 34 is above the average. That is to say, the workforces are abundant but the labor market of Korea is very poor in mobilizing them.

Especially, it is impossible to fill the new jobs for professional services with men only. The conclusion is that it is impossible to become `top 10` unless Korea makes full use of woman workforces, especially highly educated women.

Chi-Young Shin higgledy@donga.com