The average starting salary for full-time PhD researchers in science and engineering at Korea's public research institutions stands at just over 40 million won, according to a recent report. The "2024 Survey on the Treatment of Science and Engineering Personnel," released on the 25th, found that newly hired PhDs at public research institutions earn an average of 47.9 million won — significantly lower than their counterparts at universities (60.6 million won) and even private companies (50.8 million won). Salary growth over the past three years stood at 6.5 percent, less than half of the 17.0 percent recorded by private firms. At a time when semiconductor industry bonuses worth hundreds of millions of won have become a social talking point, such meager treatment of scientific talent is detrimental to the nation's future competitiveness.
The gap in compensation between the public and private sectors for technical personnel must not be allowed to widen further. National technological competitiveness can only be maximized when public institutions, which undertake long-term and high-risk projects, work in balance with the private sector, which commercializes those technologies. With the wage gap between the public and private sectors already substantial, if the "bonus bonanza" widens this divide further, Korea's research and development (R&D) ecosystem could lose its balance. The situation has reached a point where many public institutions, which serve as the backbone of national R&D, are giving up on the talent competition altogether. Some 43.8 percent of these institutions cite "low wages and benefits" as the reason for their difficulty in securing personnel. While companies attract talent with extraordinary performance bonuses, the public sector remains hamstrung by rigid seniority-based pay systems and budget guidelines. If this polarization in compensation continues to accelerate the concentration of talent in the private sector, national technological competitiveness itself stands to be undermined.
The government has set this year's R&D budget at 35.3 trillion won, a 19 percent increase from the previous year, emphasizing it as the largest-ever allocation. However, more important than the size of the budget is how that money is spent on cultivating core talent. No matter how impressive the cutting-edge research equipment and large-scale projects may be, the sustainability of research cannot be guaranteed if the core personnel who lead them are weighed down by an uncertain future. The "5th Basic Plan for Fostering Science and Technology Talent," scheduled for release next month, must include groundbreaking measures to improve the treatment of personnel driving national R&D. Beyond merely increasing research funding, the plan must include realistic wage adjustments and bold performance-based incentive systems.
