Semiconductor bonuses drove a third of Korea's wage growth in first half

Average monthly wage for regular workers reaches 4.32 million won

Special pay hits record high of 601,000 won

Large firms average 6.5 million won; smaller firms 3.82 million won

Electronics and telecom sector accounts for 32.4% of total wage increase

A job posting board at an employment center in Seoul on Aug. 11. [Yonhap]

The average monthly wage for regular workers in the first half of this year rose 3.1 percent to 4.32 million won ($3,130), with performance bonuses in the electronics and telecommunications sector surging 66 percent on the back of a semiconductor boom — accounting for roughly a third of the total wage increase.

The Korea Enterprises Federation released the findings Monday in a report titled "Analysis of Wage Increase Trends by Company Size and Industry in the First Half of 2026," based on raw data from the Ministry of Employment and Labor's business labor force surveys covering January through June for 2024 to 2026.

The analysis covers regular workers — those on open-ended contracts or employed for at least one year. Total wages include fixed pay such as base salary and standard allowances, as well as special pay such as performance bonuses and incentives, but exclude overtime premiums.

The average monthly total wage per regular worker in the first half of this year came to 4.32 million won, up about 131,000 won from 4.19 million won in the same period last year. The rate of increase, however, slowed to 3.1 percent from 3.5 percent in the first half of last year, a decline of 0.4 percentage points.

A closer look at the breakdown shows that performance bonuses had a greater impact than fixed pay. Average monthly fixed wages grew just 2.2 percent to 3.72 million won, down 0.7 percentage points from last year's growth rate of 2.9 percent.

Special pay — which includes performance bonuses — jumped 9.3 percent, from 550,000 won to 601,000 won. That is the highest first-half figure since the government began publishing the relevant statistics for workplaces with one or more employees in 2011.

Average monthly total wages and wage growth rates for regular workers in the first half of 2024–2026. [Provided by Korea Enterprises Federation]

The wage gap between large and small companies also widened.

Workers at firms with 300 or more employees earned an average of 6.5 million won per month, up 4.8 percent from a year earlier. Those at firms with fewer than 300 employees averaged 3.82 million won, a 2.1 percent increase. As a result, the monthly wage gap between the two groups widened from 2.46 million won in the first half of last year to 2.68 million won this year.

The increase in performance bonuses at large companies was a key driver. Average monthly special pay at firms with 300 or more employees jumped 14.7 percent, from 1.59 million won last year to 1.82 million won this year, surpassing the previous record of 1.66 million won set in the first half of 2022.

By contrast, special pay at firms with fewer than 300 employees grew just 0.6 percent, from 318,000 won to 320,000 won. Fixed wage growth also slowed across the board — 1.4 percent at larger firms and 2.2 percent at smaller ones.

By industry, finance and insurance posted the highest average monthly wages at 8.51 million won, followed by electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning at 7.09 million won, and professional, scientific and technical services at 5.84 million won.

Accommodation and food services recorded the lowest average monthly wages at 2.73 million won — about 32 percent of the finance and insurance sector's level.

In terms of wage growth, manufacturing led all 17 industries with a 5.9 percent increase, followed by professional, scientific and technical services at 5.7 percent, finance and insurance at 5.6 percent, and wholesale and retail trade at 4.8 percent. The electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning sector saw wages fall 3.1 percent, while construction (-0.7 percent), real estate (-0.6 percent), mining (-0.6 percent) and information and communications (-0.2 percent) also declined.

The standout sector was electronics and telecommunications, which includes semiconductor manufacturers. Average monthly total wages in the sector reached 9.43 million won in the first half, up 23.1 percent from a year earlier — more than double the 4.19 million won average for all other industries combined.

The divergence within the sector was particularly sharp: fixed wages edged up just 1.4 percent, from 5.1 million won to 5.17 million won, while special pay jumped 66.0 percent, from 2.57 million won to 4.26 million won.

The Korea Enterprises Federation cautioned, however, that the available data do not allow the semiconductor industry to be isolated from the broader electronics and telecommunications category. While major semiconductor manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are included in the sector, non-semiconductor companies are counted alongside them.

Total wages and wage growth rates by component for the electronics and telecommunications sector versus all other industries in the first half of 2026. [Provided by Korea Enterprises Federation]

When the analysis is broadened to include semiconductor-related research and development and professional services, average monthly wages in those sectors rose 12.6 percent to 7.41 million won. Special pay in those sectors grew 49.8 percent, and their combined contribution to the overall wage increase accounted for 46.7 percent of the total.

How performance bonuses are paid has also emerged as a labor-management issue in the semiconductor industry. SK hynix and its union reached a final agreement this month on a revised wage and collective bargaining proposal, under which 50 percent of profit-sharing bonuses will be paid in cash and the remaining 50 percent in shares. As the semiconductor boom has pushed bonus payouts higher, the method of payment itself has become a central issue in wage negotiations.

Ha Sang-woo, a director at the Korea Enterprises Federation, said the sharp rise in special pay in the electronics and telecommunications sector had a significant impact on overall wage growth in the first half of this year, driven by improved semiconductor earnings. "Companies should share their performance with workers, but the size of payouts must also account for future investment and long-term competitiveness, and distributions should be made fairly based on the contributions of both the organization and individuals," he said.

He added that companies and workers should work together to raise productivity and use that as the basis for expanding both corporate competitiveness and the capacity to pay higher wages. "Demanding wage increases beyond a company's ability to pay, simply by benchmarking compensation at other high-performing firms, is something that must be avoided," he said.

kwater@heraldcorp.com