The average salary for new college graduates in corporations with over 300 employees in our country has surpassed 50 million won for the first time.
According to the Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF) report published on the 12th titled 'Analysis of Entry Salaries for College Graduates in Our Country and Comparison with Japan', the average starting salary for new college graduates in domestic enterprises with over 300 employees (excluding excess pay) was recorded at 50.01 million won.
The total aggregates of wages were calculated based on the regular salary received by full-time college graduates under 34 years of age in 2023, plus special payments (regular bonuses and variable bonuses).
The average starting salary for all full-time college graduates was 36.75 million won, which revealed significant wage disparities based on enterprise size. For enterprises with over 300 employees, the starting salary for full-time college graduates in enterprises with fewer than 300 employees was only 64.7% (32.38 million won). Enterprises with 30 to 299 employees accounted for 71.9% (35.95 million won), those with 5 to 29 employees had 61.4% (3.7 million won), and those with fewer than 5 employees stood at 54.6% (27.31 million won).
The starting salary for college graduates in large corporations with over 500 employees was found to be higher than that of Japanese large corporations (over 1,000 employees). When comparing South Korea and Japan, the study focused on the total aggregates of wages (excluding excess pay) for new full-time employees aged 29 and under.
Based on purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates, the overall average starting salary for college graduates (10 or more employees) in South Korea was $45,401, while in Japan it was $34,794, indicating that South Korea's figure was 30.5% higher than Japan's. Notably, the starting salary for college graduates in large corporations was $57,568 in South Korea, which was over $10,000 (57.9%) higher than Japan's $36,466.
Analyzing the wage gap for starting salaries of college graduates by size, when considering the starting salary of full-time college graduates in enterprises with 10 to 99 employees as 100, Japanese large corporations were only at 114.4, while South Korean large corporations reached 149.3. This indicates a larger wage gap between small and large corporations.