Payment at listed firms 3 times higher than minimum wage

All News 11:52 July 22, 2018

SEOUL, July 22 (Yonhap) -- The average hourly payment for South Korea's listed firms was more than three times higher than the country's minimum level, market data showed Sunday.

A total of 1,932 firms listed on the main KOSPI and tech-laden KOSDAQ markets were presumed to have paid an average of 22,472 won (US$19.79) per hour last year to their 1.56 million employees, according to the data from Chaebol.com, a research firm specialized in large businesses.

In 2017, South Korea set the minimum hourly wage at 6,470 won. The amount rose to 7,530 won this year and will be further increased to 8,350 won in 2019.

By business sector, those working for refineries were found to have earned the most with 38,520 won, followed by employees at securities firms receiving 31,948 won, bank employees 28,053 won and workers at auto firms 27,889 won.

Tech, telecom and steel companies were also among the industries that paid more than the average.

Education employees ranked the lowest by earning 12,167 won per hour. Miners, publishers, textile companies and travel agencies also turned out to have paid around 12,000 won per hour to their workers.

By company, S-Oil, the country's major oil refiner, topped the list in terms of their employees' hourly wage with 41,354 won, followed by tech giant Samsung Electronics with 40,068 won, SK Innovation with 38,014 won, SK Telecom with 36,310 won, Kia Motors with 31,849 won, Hyundai Motor with 31,507 won and POSCO with 30,137 won.

Meanwhile, the listed firms' hourly revenue per employee stood at 337,561 won on average, according to the data.

Those working for oil refineries were found to make the highest hourly revenue for their companies with 1.62 million won, followed by gas firms with 1.52 million won, insurers with 1.45 million won and shipping firms with 759,020 won.

Hourly sales per employee turned out to be proportional to hourly wage levels though there are some exceptions like the auto and tech fields, said Chung Seon-seop, the chief of Chaebol.com.