Average salary at firms with 300+ employees tops 70 million won

The total wage earned by a full-time worker in a company with 300 or more employees in Korea exceeded 70 million won (approximately 48,100 U.S. dollars) for the first time last year.

According to the '2024 report on the analysis of characteristics of business wage hikes' released by the Korea Employers Federation on Sunday, the total annual wage of full-time workers in businesses with 300 or more employees was 71.21 million won (approximately 48,960 dollars) last year. This is the first time that the annual wage of workers in businesses with 300 or more employees exceeded 70 million won, excluding overtime pay. During the same period, the total annual wage per worker in businesses with fewer than 300 employees was 44.27 million won (approximately 30,400 dollars).

Last year, the total annual wage per employee in businesses with 300 or more employees increased by 18.8 percent compared to 2020. This wage growth rate is 3.7 percentage points higher than that for businesses with fewer than 300 employees (15.1 percent). In particular, the growth rate of special pay, such as performance bonuses and bonuses, for businesses with 300 or more employees was 26.3 percent, nearly 10 percentage points higher than that for businesses with fewer than 300 employees (16.6 percent).

In terms of wage level by industry, electricity, gas, and steam companies paid 88.7 million won (approximately 60,980 dollars), which was higher than the financial and insurance industry (88.6 million won, approximately 60,900 dollars) for the first time in five years since 2019. This is due to the 22.7 percent year-on-year increase in special salaries for electricity, gas, and steam companies last year, the steepest among all industries.


김형민 kalssam35@donga.com