SEOUL — In a historic shift, the average salary of employees at South Korean conglomerates has exceeded that of their Japanese counterparts for the first time.
According to Yonhap News Agency, The Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF) revealed that in 2022, workers at large South Korean companies earned an average monthly wage of 5.88 million won (approximately US$4,417), marking a significant rise of 157.6 percent from 2.28 million won recorded two decades earlier.
The report highlights a notable contrast with the average monthly wage for Japanese conglomerate employees, which stood at 4.43 million won in 2022. This figure represents a decrease of 6.8 percent from 4.84 million won in 2002, reversing the situation from twenty years ago when Japanese workers led in earnings.
Moreover, the trend extends beyond the large conglomerates. South Korean employees at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) also saw their average monthly wages surpass their Japanese counterparts for the first time, earning 3.4 million won compared to the 3.32 million won of Japanese SME workers.
Additionally, the average monthly salary of Korean workers at companies with ten or more employees reached 4 million won in 2022, outpacing the 3.79 million won earned by their Japanese counterparts.
However, the report also shed light on the growing wage disparity within South Korea itself. The gap between salaries at large conglomerates and SMEs has widened significantly in Seoul. In 2022, Korean SME workers earned only 57.7 percent of what their counterparts in larger companies made, a stark contrast to Japan, where SME workers received 73.7 percent of the wages earned by employees at larger firms.