The wage gap between workers in major conglomerates and small and mid-sized companies has grown so much that the former earn almost twice as much as the latter.

The wage gap stood at W31.81 million last year, up 7.6 percent compared to 2014 (US$1=W1,143). Regular staff at major conglomerates earned W65.44 million a year on average, while workers in SMEs earned only W33.63 million.

The Federation of Korean Industries analyzed the payrolls of 14.68 million salaried workers and found that the average annual wage stood at W32.81 million last year, up 1.5 percent from 2014.

But in big conglomerates wages rose 4.2 percent and in SMEs just 1.2 percent.

"More workers in conglomerates remain employed longer due to greater job stability than in SMEs, so their pay levels keep going up, and strong unions in corporations also get steeper wage hikes," said Prof. Kim Sung-soo at Seoul National University.

