The wage gap between college and high school graduates has been narrowing over the past decade, the labor ministry said Tuesday.
The measurement, made by setting the salary of high school graduates at 100, showed that those with university degrees earned 158.9 in 2000, but the number declined to 154 in 2009, according to the ministry.
Workers who graduated from vocational colleges were earning 137 in 2009, slightly down from 138.9 at the beginning of the millennium.
The wage disparity is narrower among workers with less than a year on the job, the ministry said. For example, new recruits with vocational college diplomas were at 106.2 last year, and university graduates 148.2.
Among workers who were employed for two to three years, wages for vocational college graduates were actually higher than those for high school graduates, 102.1 to 100.
On the other hand, higher-educated workers received more pay increases as they got older, the ministry said.
High school graduates reach their wage peak of 2.56 million won (US$2,200) per month when they are 45 to 49 years old, while college
graduate workers peak at 5.01 million won at the age of 50 to 54, it said.