"A securities firm above SK hynix?" This company ranked No. 1 with an average salary of 181.74 million won

[The Financial News] The average annual salary for employees at major large corporations in Korea was tallied at 100.28 million won. Korea Investment & Securities paid the highest average salary to its employees, while Kim Seung-yeon, chair of Hanwha Group, received the highest individual compensation.

On the 25th, Leaders Index Corporate Analysis Institute analyzed 211 comparable companies among the top 500 firms by revenue. It found that the real average annual salary for employees at these companies last year was 100.28 million won, up 5.2% from a year earlier.
In terms of individual compensation, Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-yeon received the most, at 24.841 billion won. He was followed by CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun with 17.743 billion won and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun with 17.461 billion won.
Average employee salaries were particularly high in finance and securities. Korea Investment & Securities ranked first with an average of 181.74 million won. It was followed by SK hynix (180.76 million won), NH Investment & Securities (178.51 million won), KB Financial Group (173.98 million won), and Samsung Securities (164.52 million won).
The average compensation for the highest-paid individuals at each company was 2.18 billion won, a 7.6% increase from the previous year. As a result, the pay gap widened from 20.7 times to 21.2 times.

By industry, the gap was widest in retail. In the retail sector, the highest-paid individuals earned an average of 2.53646 billion won, up 20.1% year-on-year, while the average employee salary was only 64.47 million won. This translated into a pay gap of 39.3 times. The gap was also large in food and beverage (34.2 times), holding companies (29.3 times), and IT and electronics (28.5 times).
In contrast, the gap was relatively small in the financial sector. In banking, the average employee salary rose 5.9% to 118.28 million won, while the highest-paid individuals saw their compensation increase 1.7% to 986.86 million won. The pay gap narrowed from 8.7 times to 8.3 times.
At the individual company level, HS Hyosung showed the largest disparity: Vice Chairman Cho Hyun-sang received 7.35 billion won, while the average employee salary was 46.4 million won, a gap of 158.4 times. At Hyosung Group, Chairman Cho Hyun-joon received 10.199 billion won, 118.2 times higher than the average employee salary of 86.3 million won. At Emart, the gap between Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin’s 5.85 billion won and the average employee salary of 51.03 million won was 114.6 times.
Leaders Index stated that while employee compensation increased on the back of improved performance at large corporations, "the salary gap widened because the compensation of top management grew even more."
gaa1003@fnnews.com An Ga-eul Reporter