The Korea Exchange is the most generous public employer in Korea, figures from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance published Thursday show.

The average staffer at the Korea Exchange excluding executives earned W106.07 million (US$1=W1,116) last year, making it the only one of 286 state-run or public companies with nine-figure annual salaries. The figure was a 3 percent increase over 2008.

Korea Investment Corporation ranked second with average annual pay of W97.95 million. That was up a hefty 42.1 percent from the previous year because the company awarded performance-based bonuses again after suspending them in 2008 due to the global financial crisis.

Next were Korea Securities Computing Corporation (W93.80 million), Korea Securities Depository (W93.11 million) and the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (W91.82 million), up between 1.7 and 11.3 percent.

The Korea Exchange also topped the list in terms of executive pay, with the chairman earning W648.44 million last year, down 19.2 percent on-year. The Export-Import Bank of Korea came second as the chairman took home W484.4 million.

Government efforts to streamline public organizations led to a 1.6 percent decline in overall average pay, from W60 million in 2008 to W59 million last year. The ministry on Friday publishes the salaries of all public organizations' employees on its website www.alio.go.kr.