By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
Executives of the 100 largest companies listed on the main stock received a monthly average salary of 52 million won ($56,000) in the first half of the year, 12 times the average employee's monthly paycheck of 4.2 million won, according to a Korea Exchange survey (KRX) made public Monday.
The survey was on permanent executives or registered members of boards of directors. The KRX said Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chipmaker, paid its registered directors an average 233 million won per month in the first six months, the highest among the top 100 listed firms.
GS Engineering & Construction came in second as its registered directors received 217 million won, followed by Hanwha with 172 million won and SK Telecom with 160 million won.
Overall, executives at 48 companies out of 100 got over 52 million won on average per month. Also, the top 10 firms gave their directors a monthly average 162 million won per month, 14.7 times more than the monthly average of 11 million won that the bottom 10 companies paid to their executives.
Among the top 100 listed firms, directors of Korea Express got the smallest monthly pay at six million won because the country's largest trucking company is currently under court receivership.
Meanwhile, employees of the 100 largest listed companies received a monthly paycheck of 4.2 million won on average. There are 6,680 workers on average at the top 100 firms in terms of market capitalization at the end of June.
Of these companies, financial services enterprises paid the highest monthly salaries. Hana Financial Group employees received the biggest monthly pay of 6.2 million won. Following Hana were Industrial Bank of Korea and other lenders. Samsung Electronics, the largest company in terms of market value, ranked 62nd in the pay ladder with 3.9 million won.
Employees in the retail and shopping industries earn the lowest income. Leading retailers such as Shinsegae and Lotte paid an average of 2.5 million to 2.6 million won to their employees a month, respectively.