Starting Wages

I'm often quizzed on wages for white collar workers in Korea. It a tough question to answer. Few firms disclose this info! But, this Korea Times article notes starting wages for recent college grads.



The annual salary for a four-year college graduate in their first working year is approaching 30 million won ($32,400) on average, an online recruiting firm.

In its survey of 413 companies, including major conglomerates, JobKorea found that male college graduates will receive an average of 29.85 million won during their first year of work.

When the Internet recruiter surveyed 320 companies last year, the average annual salary for graduates in their first year of work was 28.15 million won.

This year, the financial sector topped the list with graduates earning 34.88 million won, higher by 16.9 percent than the overall average. Shipbuilding and heavy industries ranked second with 34.78 million won.

The sectors with above-average salaries also include chemical & petrochemical (30.55 million won), construction (30.45 million won) and information technology (30.13 million won).

Below-average salaries were found in the automobile sector with 29.23 million won and airline & transportation with 28.89 million won and machine & steel with 28.4 million won.

Sectors including food & beverages, services, textile & clothing, and distribution & trade, posted salaries below 28 million won, JobKorea reported.

Public companies, such as the Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Korea Agro-Fisheries Corp., recorded an average salary of 31.47 million won for first-year employees.

The recruiter said job security is the most important element for college students when choosing jobs. In its earlier survey of 1,158 college students, JobKorea found that one out of three university students are currently preparing for exams to become employees at state-funded public companies.

Among the companies that allowed their payment levels to be made public was Hyundai Motor. It had the highest annual salary with 38.5 million won, trailed by Woori Bank with 38 million won, Daewoo Securities with 37 million won and Samsung Engineering with 36 million won.