"Even Among Entry-Level Employees, a 6 Million Won Gap"... Starting Salaries Differ by Job Function

Job Planet Salary Data Analysis
Lowest Starting Salary in "Media and Public Relations"
Highest in "Research and Development"

The starting salaries for entry-level employees show a gap of more than 6 million won depending on the job function. The lowest starting salary was found in media and public relations, while the highest was in research and development.

Citizens are hurrying on their way to work at the Gwanghwamun intersection in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yongjun

On July 22, Job Planet, a career platform operated by Brain Commerce (co-CEOs Hwang Heeseung and Yoon Singeun), announced that an analysis of annual salary data paid in 2024 and 2025 revealed that the median starting salary for entry-level employees differed by more than 6 million won depending on the job function.

Job Planet aggregated the salary levels of "first-year entry-level" employees by job function, based on more than 1.42 million salary data points collected from employment insurance and other sources through individual verification. To minimize distortion, the analysis was based on the median rather than the average.

According to the analysis, the job function with the lowest starting salary was "media and public relations" at 28.04 million won, while the highest was "research and development" at 34.3 million won. The gap between these two job functions amounted to 6.26 million won.

Job Planet

Based on the median, the top job functions were research and development (34.3 million won), production and manufacturing (34.04 million won), sales and partnerships (33.17 million won), production management and quality control (33 million won), engineering (32.48 million won), and development (32.3 million won), in that order.

On the other hand, design (28.55 million won), marketing and market research (28.8 million won), and service and customer support (28.93 million won) showed relatively low starting salary levels.

A Job Planet representative stated, "Even among first-year employees, the reality is that starting salaries can differ by more than 6 million won, so salary information should be approached based on data, not just intuition," adding, "Job Planet will continue to provide information that can help people make practical decisions at the start of their careers."