Pay Gap Between Big and Small Companies Still Huge

Workers in small and midsize enterprises earned an average of W59.2 million last year, only about 60 percent of what large companies pay their staff (US$1=W1,323).

According to corporate tracker CEO Score, 615 listed small and midsize companies with assets between W500 billion and W10 trillion paid their workers W59.2 million on average in 2022, up 5.5 percent from 2021.

The increase is similar to the top 500 companies, whose staff were paid an average of W98.2 million, though.  

The pay gap between male and female staff was bigger in SMEs than at conglomerates. Female workers in SMEs were paid W43.4 million last year, 67.5 percent of the W64.3 million their male counterparts made. But in big businesses, female workers received W74.9 million, 70.4 percent of their male counterparts' W163 million.  

Steelmaker KISCO paid the highest salaries among SMEs, with its average pay scale jumping 12.4 percent or W14 million to W127 million last year.

In 2021, only three SMEs -- KISCO, PI Advanced Materials and TKG Huchems -- paid more than W100 million on average, but that rise to six last year. 

Some 177 SMEs paid less than W50 million.