The average starting salary for full-time science and engineering PhD holders at Korean public research institutions stands at around 48 million won, according to a new survey, raising concerns that public labs are losing competitiveness as corporate pay rises rapidly amid issues such as Samsung Electronics' (005930) recent multi-hundred-million-won performance bonuses.
According to the "2024 Survey on Cultivation, Utilization and Treatment of Science and Engineering Talent" released Tuesday by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP), the average annual salary for new PhD hires in 2024 was 47.9 million won at public research institutions, 50.8 million won at companies, and 60.6 million won at universities.
The average annual salary combines pre-tax base pay, allowances, bonuses and performance pay. Excluding university professorships, science and engineering PhDs receive a starting salary of just over 50 million won on average.
Compared with three years ago, the growth rate in the average starting salary was highest at companies at 17 percent, while public research institutions saw a 6.5 percent increase and universities just 5.3 percent.
As the wage gap between companies and public research institutions widens, concerns are growing that public labs are falling behind in the competition to attract talent.
In a survey question on difficulties in securing science and engineering talent, 43.8 percent of public research institutions cited the inability to establish a compensation system — including wages and benefits — at a level sufficient to attract desired talent as their biggest challenge.
