Average monthly salary increased by 6.7 percent

Average monthly salary hit 2 million Korean won base for the first time and posted 2,010,000 KW, up by 6.7 percent compared to 1,890,000 KW in 2005.  Total wage, which is the monthly salary plus bonus and benefit-sharing incentives, was 2,480,000 KW.
The rate of workers earning total wage more than 4,000,000 KW was 14.2 percent (that of workers earning more than 3,000,000 KW was 27.5 percent), up by 2.6 percent from 2005.

Wage gap based on education narrowed but that for first-time workers widened

Monthly salary gap between workers with more than university education and high-school education decreased but the gap in starting salaries (salaries of workers with less than one-year employment) increased in contrast.
Average monthly salary of workers with more than university education was 2,640,000 KW, 52.2 percent more than that of workers with high-school education of 1,730,000 KW.  This gap in 2005 was 54.9 percent, which indicates a downward trend by 2.7 percentage point from the year 2005. (Average monthly salary of workers with more than university education was 2,510,000 KW and that of workers with high-school education was 1,620,000 KW in 2005)
However, the gap between the workers with university education (1,730,000 KW) and high-school education (1,270,000 KW) in starting salary of workers with less than one-year employment, which can be a yardstick to measure entrance salary of each educational achievement, was 36.7 percent, up by 1.6 percentage point from 35.5 percent in 2005 (starting salary of workers with university education was 1,610,000 KW and that of workers with high-school education was 1,200,000KW in 2005).
In 2005, monthly salary of workers with vocational college education was more than that of workers with high-school education by 3.5 percent, but in 2006 the gap decreased to 1.9 percent by 1.6 percentage point.
Since 2002, monthly salary of workers with high-school education was more than that of workers with vocational college education after taking into account their two-year study as career.  However, in 2006, monthly salary of workers in the first year of employment with vocational college education (1,310,000 KW) was less than that of workers in the third year of employment with high-school education (1,400,000 KW) by 5.9 percent.

(in 1,000 won)

 Note:  (   ) indicates monthly wage level when that of high school graduation is considered 100.

Wage gap between sexes narrowed

Wage gap between sexes in monthly salary narrowed down to 66.5 percent (rate of female workers' salary to male workers') by 0.3 percentage point compared to the year 2005 (66.2 percent).
Wage gap between sexes in monthly salary increases gradually as workers get aged. In case of workers aged from 25 to 30 years, salary of female workers was 91.1 percent of that of male workers, but in case of workers aged from 40 to 50 years, the rate barely reaches 60 percent.

(in 1,000 won)

Note: 1.Monthly salary equals a fixed salary plus extra payments (excluding bonus and benefit-sharing incentives)
         2. (   ) indicates the rate of salary of female workers to that of male workers.
        3. 1 USD = 971.68 KW (as of the end of 2006)

Wage gap between sizes of enterprise widened

In terms of monthly salary of workers compared to the year 2005, wage gap between enterprises with 10 to 29 workers and these with more than 300 workers has been widened.  Monthly salary of enterprises with more than 300 workers in 2006 is recorded at 2,490,000 KW, 30.4 percent more than that of enterprises with from 10 to 29 workers. This figure is up by 2.6 percentage point from 27.8 percent in 2005 with 2,270,000 KW and 1,780,000 KW respectively for monthly salary of enterprises with more than 300 workers and with from 10 to 29 workers.

(in 1,000 won)

Note: ( ) indicates proportion when average monthly wage of companies with 10-29 workers is considered 100.