South Korea's Wage Gap Between Large and Small Businesses Delays Youth Labor Market Entry

A report from the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET) indicates that the growing wage disparity between large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Korea is causing delays in youth employment. In 2024, the average monthly wage for SME workers was 3.51 million won, half that of large companies at 7.16 million won. This significant gap, which has widened over the last decade, is estimated to cause university graduates to delay their entry into the labor market by approximately 3.6 months as they seek more lucrative positions at larger firms, which offer a lifetime income advantage exceeding 1 billion won.