Does Changing Jobs Raise Your Salary? "It's Not Equal for All Workers"

Average Wage for Young Workers Rises 4.78% per Job Change
Effects Differ by Gender and Major: Limited Benefits for Women and Humanities Majors

A study has found that wages for young people increase by an average of 4.78% each time they change jobs. However, the research also shows that job changes do not provide the same opportunities for all young people, with the effects varying significantly depending on gender and academic major.

According to Yonhap News Agency on June 14, citing the Korea Employment Information Service, Professor Kim Sugyeong of the Liberal Arts Department at Pyeongtaek University recently presented these research findings at the Employment Panel Survey Academic Conference.

Professor Kim analyzed data from the Youth Panel (YP2021) of the Employment Information Service, focusing on 3,999 young people for whom employment status and wage information were available. The study found that with each additional job change, wages increased by an average of 4.78%.

Job seekers are filling out resumes at the "2026 Suwon City Job Fair" held at the Suwon Convention Center in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do.

This means that for young people, changing jobs serves as a means to increase income, not just as a simple shift in workplace. In fact, young people in the Seoul metropolitan area changed jobs an average of 1.85 times, higher than those outside the metropolitan area (1.52 times), and their average monthly wage was 2,895,000 won, more than the 2,424,000 won recorded by young people in non-metropolitan regions.

However, the effect of job changes differed by group, such as gender and academic major. For men, the wage increase effect was particularly pronounced when a job change also involved relocating to a different region.

On the other hand, for women, the wage increase effect from regional relocation was not statistically significant. In fact, the impact of interrupted tenure during the job change process resulted in a greater wage decrease for women than for men.

Additionally, engineering majors experienced relatively less disadvantage from changing jobs and saw a greater increase in wages when relocating to a different region. In contrast, humanities and social sciences majors experienced a greater decline in wages when their tenure was interrupted.

Professor Kim explained, "Skills in the humanities and social sciences tend to rely more heavily on experience and tenure within a specific organization." She noted that this is different from engineering skills, which are more broadly applicable and, therefore, experience less value loss when changing jobs.

Professor Kim stressed, "Changing jobs is not an equal ladder for all workers," adding, "For some groups, it can actually result in a loss of career capital, which means tailored career management support is necessary."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.