The number of female workers in Korea surpassed 10 million for the first time in 2011, data showed Wednesday.

The number of male workers in the same year was estimated at 14.15 million.

The data also revealed that the number of working women in their 50s exceeded 2 million, outnumbering 20-something working females. Working males in their 50s stood at 3.03 million.

According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and Statistics Korea, women workers reached 10.09 million last year, up 1.8 percent, or 177,000, from a year ago.

The female workforce has been on a steady increase since 1978, when it reached 5.1 million.

It also eclipsed 7 million in 1989 and 8 million in 1994 before breaking the 9 million mark in 2009.

The ministry said that the rising female population is mainly attributed to the uptrend. The female population aged over 15, which stood at 18.86 million a decade ago, surpassed 20 million in 2007 and reached 20.98 million last year.

“The expanding female population has played a key role in the steady growth but there is a rebound effect from the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009,” the official said. “A growing desire for work, helped by the government’s support for raising children has also contributed to the increase.”

The data shows that the increase might also be attributable to a growing number of women seeking to land jobs to support their families struggling with the rising cost of living.

Women in their 50s were conspicuous in the data, as their number posted the biggest expansion last year.

Their 2011 number reached a record 2.05 million after rising 6.8 percent, or 130,000, from a year earlier.

The record number marked the first time that women in their 50s outnumbered those in their 20s in terms of the working population.

Female workers in their 20s totaled 1.92 million last year, down 1.4 percent, or 30,000, from a year earlier.

Employment among females in their 60s increased as well, since their working population gained 5 percent, or 60,000, year-on-year to 1.19 million.

Over the mid-term, the number of female workers is expected to steadily rise, but it is not likely to post a big jump this year due to a bleak economic outlook, as women are usually the first to be let go in case of an economic downturn.

Over the past two decades, the female working population saw a decline on three occasions ― the Asian currency crisis in 1998, credit card crisis in 2003 and global financial crisis in 2009 that cost 640,000, 120,000 and 100,000, jobs respectively.

Women have actively made advances into the nation’s key industries, including the financial sector.

According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, the proportion of female economists is on the upswing, as their number reached 140, or 25.1 percent of the total number of 558 researchers at the nation’s top 10 securities companies.

Women fund managers accounted for 10.2 percent out of the total in January 2010. The January 2012 figure was 15 percent.

By Kang Seung-woo

Source: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2012/01/123_103438.html