Samsung Electronics to Raise Average Wages by 7.5% This Year... Highest Increase in 10 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] Samsung Electronics has decided to increase its employees' average annual salary by 7.5% this year. This figure includes the performance bonus increase and represents the largest raise in the past decade.

On the 26th, Samsung Electronics announced that it had reached an agreement with the Employee Council on a total average wage increase of 7.5%, which includes a basic raise rate of 4.5% and a performance raise rate of 3.0%. The basic raise rate refers to the increase in base salary, while the performance raise rate varies depending on personnel evaluations.

Although the detailed raise rates differ according to individual evaluations and salary levels, Samsung Electronics expects that employees at the assistant manager level (CL 1~2) will see an average increase of about 11% when combining the basic and performance raise rates.

For new university graduates, the starting salary is expected to rise from 44.5 million KRW to around 48 million KRW, with the overall average increase for all employees estimated to be between 4 to 5 million KRW. In terms of welfare benefits, welfare points provided to all employees have been raised from 700,000 KRW last year to 1,000,000 KRW this year.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Initially, Samsung Electronics and the Employee Council faced difficulties in negotiations due to differing views on this year’s wage increase rate. While the Employee Council demanded an increase of up to 6%, the company proposed around 3%, and the gap remained unresolved until mid-month.

However, with recent IT companies’ average annual salaries surpassing 100 million KRW and the remarkable salary raises becoming a hot topic, as well as LG Electronics, a competitor in the same industry, confirming the highest raise rate of 9% since the 2000s reflecting strong performance, both labor and management at Samsung Electronics appear to have agreed on the necessity of a wage increase.

Following the decision on Samsung Electronics’ salary raise rate, the wage increase rates for affiliates such as Samsung SDI, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, and Samsung Display are also expected to be confirmed consecutively.

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