Samsung headquarters in Seoul’s Seocho district (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Mar. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – In the face of a challenging semiconductor market last year, Samsung Electronics employees experienced a significant reduction in their average annual salaries, with a reported decrease of over 10% from the previous year.
Kim Ki-nam, an advisor at Samsung, emerged as the top earner, receiving a compensation package exceeding 17.2 billion won, including severance pay.
According to company data, the average salary for Samsung Electronics employees last year was 120 million won, down 11.1% from 135 million won the previous year.
A breakdown by gender showed that men earned an average of 128 million won, while women earned 97 million won. Despite a 4% wage increase, the average salary decreased due to a significant drop in performance bonuses within Samsung’s semiconductor division, which reported a 15 trillion won loss.
Executive salaries at Samsung Electronics also saw a similar decline. However, the average compensation for unregistered executives increased slightly from 703 million won in 2022 to 726 million won last year, attributed to long-term performance bonuses awarded for the period between 2020 and 2022.
Kim, a former executive at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), was the highest-paid executive last year, receiving a total of 17.2 billion won, including 12.9 billion won in severance pay, 1.7 billion won in salary, and 2.4 billion won in bonuses.
Following Kim was Lee Won-jin, the former head of the Mobile Experience (MX) Business Unit’s Service Biz Team, who retired last year with a total compensation of 8.6 billion won, including 2.4 billion won in severance pay.
Jin Gyo-young, a former SAIT president, ranked third with a total of 8.5 billion won, including 5.3 billion won in severance pay.
Among the active executives, CEO Han Jong-hee received the highest salary, totaling 6.9 billion won, including 1.5 billion won in salary, 5.3 billion won in bonuses, and 130 million won in benefits.
Roh Tae-moon, head of the MX Business Division, earned a total of 6.2 billion won last year, including 4.8 billion won in bonuses.
Kyung Kye-hyun, head of the DS Division, received a total compensation of 2.4 billion won, reflecting a 0% OPI application, marking an 18.6% decrease from the 2.9 billion won earned in 2022.
The total compensation paid to the five internal directors last year amounted to 22 billion won, averaging 4.4 billion won per person. This represents a 23.9% decrease from the total of 28.9 billion won paid in the previous year, averaging 5.8 billion won per director.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
