The average monthly nominal wage of laborers in South Korea increased slightly by 3.5 percent last year over the year before, statistics by the Employment and Labor Ministry showed.

The highest paid jobs were those in electric, gas and waterworks businesses, threefold the lowest paying jobs in the lodging and food industries.

The ministry surveyed the wages of about 25,000 sample businesses in all fields excluding agriculture.

Other high-paying jobs included those in finance, insurance, science and technical services.

Among the lowest-paying occupations were those in facility management services, such as cleaning and security.

Industries that saw the biggest increase in wages were real estate and leasing, by 6.7 percent due to the real estate boom last year.

The average monthly working hours came to 172.6 hours, longer by 1.2 hours over the year before.

The most hours worked were by those in real estate and leasing services as well as manufacturing.