Mobile telecommunication operator SK Telecom had the highest average annual paycheck for employees among major Korean companies last year, according to data from the Financial Supervisory Service on Thursday.
The data showed that SK Telecom’s average per-capita salary of its more than 4,000 employees was about 98.8 million won ($88,000).
The country’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and foreign exchange specialist Korea Exchange Bank were listed at No. 2 and No. 3, with the average annual salary of 94.3 million won and 91.0 million won, respectively.
Automaker Kia Motors and LG International Corp. placed fourth and fifth, making it barely over the 90-million-won mark.
Both Shinhan Financial Group and Hana Financial Group surpassed 100 million won in the amount but were excluded from the comparative chart because of their relatively small sizes, with only 155 and 109 employees respectively. The two are holding companies.
The average annual salary at Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics, posted 69.7 million won and 63.38 million won, according to the data.
In the meantime, FSS’ data also showed that Samsung Electronics won the first slot on the list measuring the average annual salary of registered executives.
A Samsung Electronics executive earned an annual pay of about 5.2 billion won on average, which is about 75 times higher than that of a non-executive employee at the company.
The salary gap between corporate executives and non-executives also turned out high in CJ CheilJedang Corp., SK Group, SK Innovation, Hanwha Group, Samsung Heavy Industries and SK C&C, ranging approximately from 44.4 to 64.8-fold.
The gender gap in average annual salaries turned out particularly huge among large retail industry companies.
Lotte Shopping displayed the highest gender gap in average annual payment, as the average annual payment of male employees was 49.1 million won, about 2.6 times higher than female employees’ 19.2 million won.
Shinsegae Group, Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., Korea Exchange Bank and Samsung Card Co. also showed large gender gaps in payment, with men’s annual earning about 2 to 2.3 times greater than women’s.
