Graduate Starting Salary Rises 5%

The average annual starting salary for college graduates in large conglomerates is W34.81 million this year, according to JobKorea on Monday. The job portal released the data based on a survey of 180 of the nation's top 500 companies.

The figure is up W1.59 million or 4.8 percent from last year's W33 million, it said.

By industry, shipbuilding and heavy industries pay new recruits the highest salary at W41.37 million on average. Next come financial firms (W38.66 million), construction companies (W35.86 million), textile and clothing manufacturers (W35.6 million), petrochemical firms (W35.2 million), machinery and steel makers (W34.71 million), and transportation businesses (W34.69 million).

By contrast, sectors like manufacturing (W33.81 million), logistics and trading (W33 million), carmaking (W32.69 million), electric, electronics and IT (W31.66 million), and food and hospitality (W31.29 million) pay less than the average.

But the starting salary in small and medium-sized firms is a mere W22.54 million, about W10 million less than in big conglomerates. Public corporations and foreign firms pay W26.59 million and W29.4 million.