Since the early 2000s, the wages of South Korean workers in the manufacturing sector have grown 3.1 times faster than those of their counterparts in other OECD nations.

According to the OECD on Monday, average wages in the South Korean manufacturing industry rose 73.2 percent between 2000 and 2007. That's the second highest growth rate among OECD nations, after Hungary where workers' wages rose 96.3 percent during the same period.

South Korean workers' wages grew more than three times the average wage increase rate of OECD nations in that period (23.3 percent). Other nations whose workers' wages grew rapidly during the same period included Slovakia (70.8 percent), the Czech Republic (55.9 percent), and Mexico (53.1 percent).

In some countries the wage increase rate was lower than the world average: the U.S. and Italy (20.5 percent), Canada (18.1 percent), the Netherlands (17.2 percent), Japan (4.2 percent), and Portugal (3.2 percent).

South Korea's consumer prices, a benchmark to compare wage hikes, rose 23.5 percent between 2000 and 2007, a little higher than the average price increase rate among OECD nations (19.8 percent).

Explaining the country's rising wage rate, Choi Kyung-soo, a senior research fellow at the Korea Development Institute, said the wage increase rate is only nominal, as the number of low-paying jobs has fallen in Korea, having been exported to foreign countries such as China.

(englishnews@chosun.com )