It took a typical Korean salaried employee 11 years to earn 50 million won ($44,300) in annual compensation, according to a survey result from job search information provider Saramin on Tuesday.

The survey across employees in 824 companies in Korea put an average of 11.3 years to achieve 50 million won milestone in annual pay. It was shorter 7.4 years for employees of large companies, followed by 10.2 years at mid-sized companies and 11.7 years at small businesses.

About 40 percent of large company employees saw their annual salary hit 50 million won within five years after joining their company, but the numbers for mid-sized and small companies were 12.5 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively.

The job search company attributed the difference to a big gap in the baseline salary between large and small companies. The average salary of all surveyed companies was 25.93 million won whereas the number for large companies was 37.30 million won.

By job, the time to achieve an annual salary of 50 million won was the shortest at 6.7 years in employees at finance and insurance companies, followed by 9.6 years at shipbuilding and heavy industries, 9.8 years at automotive and transportation companies, 9.9 years at food services, 10.5 years at machinery and steel companies and 12 years at electric and electronic companies.

By Hwang Soon-min and Minu Kim

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]