Wages in State-Run Companies Outstrip Conglomerates'

The average wage at state-run companies outstripped most top conglomerates' last year at almost W70 million, which was also more than double the pay in small and mid-sized businesses (US$1=W1,285).

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance's website Alio on Monday, the average salary in 350 state-run companies increased 1.5 percent in 2021 to W69.8 million a year.

Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology paid the most with an average annual salary of W120.58 million, followed by Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (W115.95 million), Korea Investment Corporation (W115.92 million), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (W113.77 million) and Korea Development Bank (W113.70 million).

Twenty state-run companies paid over W100 million on average. That was better or similar to big businesses like Samsung SDI (W110 million), Hyundai (W96 million) and LG Energy Solution (W90 million).

But according to Statistics Korea data, the average salary in small and mid-sized companies was just W31.1 million last year, and in large businesses employing more than 300 people W63.5 million.