Highest Income
The profession which earned the most last year was patent attorney, with an average annual salary of 560 million won (US$548,704). This job has remained the top salaried job among professions for nine consecutive years.
According to an analysis of data, which Saenuri Party member Park Myung-jae of the Strategy and Finance Committee obtained from the tax authority on August 21, patent attorneys scored the highest salary per capita (559 million won, US$548,239), with lawyers (490 million won, US$479,827) and customs agents (296 million won, US$289,837) followed.
Next were accountants (285 million won, US$278,986), tax accountants (254 million won, US$248,640), judicial scriveners (147 million won, US$144,170), architects (119 million won, US$116,489), and appraisers (69 million won, US$67,544).
This was estimated based on the reported and paid amount of value added tax (VAT), which means doctors, one of the highest paid jobs, are excluded from the statistics, as doctors are exempted from VAT.
The patent attorneys have not lost the number one position since 2005, when the electronic statistics were first recorded. Lawyers and customs agents have stayed on at the second and third place, respectively, for just as long.
By nine year average, patent attorneys earned 587 million won (US$574,614) annually, lawyers 388 million won (US$380,531), customs agents 319 million won (US$312,358), and accountant 263 million won (US$257,450).