By Kim Jae-won
Workers at the biggest 1,000 firms with at least 10 years on-the-job experience will get an average of 52 million won in annual income this year, up 6.4 percent from 2009. The rise is attributed to a robust economic recovery from the global financial crisis.
According to Job Korea, an online recruiting service provider, the overall increase in salaries for workers regardless of their work experience has gone up 4.7 percent or 1.8 million won this year from last year, when it dropped 0.6 percent due to the dismal economic situation. The figure is based on a survey of employees who have graduated from college or with higher degrees in the top 1,000 companies by revenue.
Those who have worked for 10 years in one field have seen the highest increase in their annual income, making an extra 3.1 million won. Coming in second are those who have worked for five years with their salary up 6.3 percent to 37 million won a year.
Analysts said workers with 10 years experience are the backbone of the firms, which explains why they get the highest increase.
“They often lead a team. They take a lot of responsibility,” Jung Joo-hee, a spokeswoman of Job Korea said. “Companies give them better incentives in order to retain them.”
However, the survey result is not applicable to all workplaces. A worker with 10 years experience at a foreign lender said that she didn’t see any increase with wages frozen this year.
“It doesn’t affect me. Normally bank employees have frozen salaries,” a female worker, who leads a four-member team at the lender, said on condition of anonymity. “I really want to see my salary go up next year.”