California Implements Pay Transparency Law Starting This Year
Some Companies Show 10-Fold Difference Between Salary Minimum and Maximum... Questions on 'Effectiveness'
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] With the implementation of the pay transparency law in California, salaries of Silicon Valley big tech companies such as Apple, Google, and Meta have been disclosed. Although it varies by job, Apple pays the highest salary, up to 480 million KRW, and Meta, Microsoft (MS), and others also pay more than 300 million KRW annually to key engineers.
According to CNBC economic broadcasting and IT specialized media Gizmodo on the 6th (local time), under the new law, Apple, Google, Microsoft (MS), and others have been disclosing the salary ranges by job and position in their job postings since the 1st of this month.
The salary for an Apple engineer manager ranges from $229,000 to $378,000 (approximately 290 million to 480 million KRW). Apple engineer managers handle the iPhone operating system (iOS). The salary for experienced display engineers is reported to be $113,500 to $207,000 (approximately 140 million to 260 million KRW). Entry-level Wi-Fi quality control engineers receive $113,500 to $172,000 (approximately 140 million to 220 million KRW).
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, pays software engineer managers an annual salary of $205,000 to $281,000 (approximately 260 million to 350 million KRW). The company also pays the legal department head $190,000 to $256,000 (approximately 240 million to 320 million KRW), and data scientists related to machine learning $197,000 to $269,000 (approximately 250 million to 340 million KRW).
MS announced a salary range of $259,000 to $277,000 (approximately 330 million to 350 million KRW) for a content design director position. Amazon’s engineering director earns between $220,000 and $298,000 (approximately 280 million to 380 million KRW). Google’s engineering vice president’s salary reaches $550,000 (approximately 690 million KRW).
According to the site compiling big tech salary information (Comprehensive.io), the highest average maximum salary by job was for data scientists at $212,000 (approximately 267 million KRW), followed by software engineers at $200,000 (approximately 252 million KRW), product managers at $197,000 (approximately 248 million KRW), and product designers at $188,000 (approximately 237 million KRW).
CNBC pointed out that some companies are causing problems by widening the salary range up to 10 times, which goes against the intent of the pay transparency law. Netflix stated that it pays senior software engineers a total compensation (including base salary and additional allowances) ranging from $90,000 (approximately 110 million KRW) to $900,000 (approximately 1.13 billion KRW). Also, Tesla, headquartered in Texas but operating a manufacturing plant in California, set the salary for program managers (including cash, stock compensation, and allowances) between $54,400 and $266,400 (approximately 68 million to 336 million KRW).
Meanwhile, the new law has a loophole allowing companies or employers to omit information about stocks, stock options, various benefits, or bonuses in addition to salary.
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