Unmarried men and women showed a stark contrast in their New Year‘s hopes as the former selected a pay raise while the latter picked marriage, according to a survey.

Matchmaking company Gayeon interviewed 347 singles nationwide aged between the late 20s and mid-30s. According to the poll, 38 percent of males expressed their hopes for a salary hike for 2014 while 27 percent of males responded that their New Year goal is to get a new job. Only 18 percent of the respondent males hoped for marriage.

But single women wanted marriage the most, with 36 percent of respondents, followed by get a new job (23 percent), pay raise (20 percent), and weight loss (16 percent).

“Women tend to think about marriage earlier than men do. Men feel more pressured to secure their finances for marriage, so they think about ways to increase their salary first,” said a matchmaking manager from Gayeon.

By Ock Hyun-ju, Intern reporter 
(laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)