The Pay Gap Between CEO and Employees at Large Corporations Reaches Up to 160 Times... Son Kyung-sik Tops the List

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon · Data Analysis by Lim Hee-jin] The pay gap between the heads of large business groups and their employees' annual salaries was found to be as high as 160 times. In particular, during last year's COVID-19 situation, many major shareholders significantly increased their own salaries while being stingy about raising employees' wages.

On the 25th, Asia Economy compiled the total annual compensation of major shareholders and representatives, as well as the average salary per employee, for 55 listed companies belonging to large business groups with a controlling shareholder. The results showed that in 16 cases, the pay gap between the CEO's total compensation and the employees' annual salary exceeded 50 times.

[Data Analysis by Heejin Lim]

The company and owner with the largest pay gap between the CEO and employees was CJ CheilJedang and Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik of CJ Group.

Chairman Sohn's total compensation from CJ CheilJedang last year was 10.221 billion KRW, which was 159.7 times the average salary per employee (64 million KRW). The average salary per employee at CJ CheilJedang rose 14.29% from 56 million KRW the previous year, while Chairman Sohn's compensation increased by 6.665 billion KRW (187.43%) during the same period.

The company with the second largest pay gap between the CEO and employees was Hotel Shilla. Last year, President Lee Boo-jin's compensation was 97.8 times the employees' average salary. Lee's total compensation in 2020 was 4.892 billion KRW, while the average salary per employee at Hotel Shilla was 50 million KRW. Lee's compensation increased by 1.686 billion KRW (52.59%) compared to the previous year, whereas the average salary per employee decreased by 9 million KRW (15.25%).

Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin of Shinsegae earned 3.368 billion KRW last year, about 86.4 times the employee salary (39 million KRW). However, Vice Chairman Chung's total compensation decreased by 194 million KRW (5.45%) from the previous year, while the average salary per employee increased by 2 million KRW (5.41%).

Chairman Choi Shin-won of SK Networks also had a pay gap of 82.8 times compared to employees. The average salary per employee was 64 million KRW, and Chairman Choi's total compensation was 5.26 billion KRW. Both increased by 15.11% and 0.13% respectively from the previous year, with employee salary growth being steeper.

Chairman Koo Ja-kyun of LS Electric earned a total annual compensation of 5.493 billion KRW, which was 74.2 times the average employee salary (74 million KRW). Employee salaries decreased by 1 million KRW (1.33%), while Chairman Koo's compensation increased by 1.456 billion KRW (36.07%).

Other notable pay gaps between major shareholders and employees include Chairman Koo Ja-yong of E1 (74 times), Honorary Chairman Chung Jae-eun of Shinsegae (69.1 times), Chairman Lee Myung-hee of Shinsegae (69.1 times), Chairman Koo Ja-yeol of LS Group (62.7 times), Chairman Chung Ji-sun of Hyundai Department Store (58.8 times), Chairman Cho Hyun-joon of Hyosung Group (54.6 times), Chairman Park Moon-duk of Hite Jinro (54 times), Chairman Cho Yang-rae of Korea & Company (53.7 times), Chairman Park Chan-gu of Kumho Petrochemical (51.3 times), Chairman Jang Se-ju of Dongkuk Steel (50.6 times), and General Manager Chung Yoo-kyung of Shinsegae (50.2 times).

Meanwhile, the individual with the highest increase in compensation was Chairman Sohn Kyung-shik of CJ Group, whose total compensation increased by approximately 6.7 billion KRW (187.43%) from 2019 to 2020. Next was Chairman Cho Won-tae of Hanjin Group, whose compensation at Hanjin KAL increased by 851 million KRW (165.24%), followed by Honorary Chairman Seo Jung-jin of Celltrion Group, whose compensation at Celltrion rose by 1.774 billion KRW (125.65%).

There were 12 large business groups where employee salaries decreased but the CEO's compensation increased. These include Hotel Shilla, Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Mobis, GS Retail, Lotte Holdings, Korean Air, LS Electric, Yesco Holdings, Hyosung, KCC Construction, Netmarble, and Halla.

The company with the largest decrease in employee salaries was Netmarble, where the average salary per employee dropped 24.74% from 97 million KRW in 2019 to 73 million KRW in 2020. In contrast, Netmarble's Chairman Bang Jun-hyuk's compensation increased by 980 million KRW (70.71%) from 1.386 billion KRW in 2019 to 2.366 billion KRW in 2020.

Conversely, the companies with the largest increase in employee salaries compared to 2019 were AK Holdings (38.46%), CJ (32.80%), and Kiwoom Securities (30.97%).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.