KCCI: "Last Year's Total Annual Salary for Large Enterprise Regular Employees Exceeded 70 Million Won"

Annual total wages for regular workers at large companies surpass 70 million won for the first time
Electricity, gas, and steam sector records highest total wages, overtaking finance and insurance
Hourly wages rise faster than annual total wages due to reduced working hours

The annual total wages of regular workers in companies with 300 or more employees in South Korea have exceeded 70 million won for the first time. The sector with the highest total wages was the electricity, gas, and steam industry, surpassing the finance and insurance sector for the first time in five years.

According to the "2024 Business Wage Increase Characteristics Analysis" report released by the Korea Employers Federation on the 16th, the annual total wages of regular workers in companies with 300 or more employees last year amounted to 71.21 million won. This figure includes fixed wages (base salary) and special payments (performance bonuses), excluding overtime pay.

Last year, the wage increase rate for regular workers in companies with 300 or more employees was 2.2%, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous year, while for companies with fewer than 300 employees, it was 3.0%, up 0.4 percentage points. The total annual wages for all regular workers in South Korean companies last year was 49.17 million won, with a wage increase rate slightly higher at 2.9% compared to 2.8% the previous year.

By industry, the electricity, gas, and steam sector recorded the highest total wages at 88.7 million won, followed by the finance and insurance sector at 88.6 million won. This is attributed to the electricity, gas, and steam sector’s special payments increasing by 22.7% year-on-year, the highest among all industries, whereas the finance and insurance sector saw a 3.0% decrease in special payments compared to the previous year. The industry with the lowest total wages was accommodation and food services, at 30.84 million won.

Recently, as the actual working hours of domestic workers have sharply decreased, hourly wages have increased much more than the annual total wages. The hourly wage for regular workers in 2024 is 26,505 won, a 3.5% increase from 25,604 won in 2023, which is higher than the 2.9% increase in the annual total wages for 2024.

Ha Sang-woo, head of the Economic Research Department at the Korea Employers Federation, stated, "Last year, the annual total wages for companies with 300 or more employees exceeded 70 million won for the first time," adding, "We need to stabilize the excessively high wages in large companies caused by seniority-based wage systems and labor movements centered on large corporations, and refrain from excessive performance bonuses for high-wage workers."