13.6 Times Higher than Employee Salary

Registered executives at listed affiliates of South Korea's 10 biggest conglomerates earn 13.6 times more than regular employees.

The average salary of registered executives at listed affiliates of South Korea's 10 biggest conglomerates was 13.6 times higher than that of their employees last year.
 

The average salary for 301 registered executives at 94 listed affiliates of the top 10 business groups in terms of assets, excluding independent directors and auditors, came to 1.14 billion won (US$1.01 million), according to an analysis released by Chaebul.com on April 14. The figure was 13.6 times higher than the average pay for employees at the companies,

The annual salary of 4,676 non-registered executives, which was disclosed for the first time, stood at 412 million won (US$362,357) on average.

By group, Samsung Group, the country's biggest conglomerate by assets, posted the biggest salary gap between registered executives and regular employees. Samsung’s registered executives earned an average of 2.14 billion won (US$1.89 million) last year, 21.9 times higher than the 98 million won (US$86,192) for employees.

LG Group showed the second biggest gap as its executives earned 17.3 times higher than employees last year, followed by GS with 17.2 times, Hyundai Motor with 16.4 times, Lotte with 14.3 times, Hyundai Heavy Industries with 12.8 times, SK with 9.9 times, POSCO with 8.4 times, Hanwha with 6.6 times and Nonghyup with 2.3 times.


By listed affiliate, Samsung Electronics Co. had the largest salary gap between registered executives and regular employees. Its registered executives earned an average of 5.76 billion won (US$5.06 million) last year, 52.6 times higher than the 109 million won (US$95,866) for employees.

It was followed by Samsung Biologics Co., with 42.3 times, LG Corp. with 39.7 times, SK Networks Service Co. with 39 times, SK Corp. with 38.9 times, Hotel Shilla Co. with 37.4 times, Samsung Life Insurance Co. with 35.3 times, Samsung Securities Co. with 35.2 times, Hyundai Motor Co. with 32.8 times and Hyundai Steel Co. with 32 times.

Samsung Group paid the highest average annual salary to its registered executives with 2.14 billion won (US$1.89 million), followed by Hyundai Motor Group with 1.45 billion won (US$1.27 million), LG Group with 1.37 billion won (US$1.20 million), SK with 917 million won (US$806,508), Hyundai Heavy Industries with 863 million won (US$759,015), GS with 789 million won (US$693,931), POSCO with 748 million won (US$657,872), Lotte with 668 million won (US$587,511), Hanwha with 506 million (US$445,031) and Nonghyup with 242 million won (US$212,841).
 

By individual firm, Samsung Electronics had the highest average annual salary for its registered executives with 5.76 billion won (US$5.06 million), while GS Corp. had the highest figure for non-registered executives with 991 million won (US$871,592). NH Investment & Securities Co. and Samsung Securities paid the highest average annual salary for regular employees with 119 million won (US$104,661).

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