Electronics

In order to cope with high inflation and further attract talents, South Korean semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have successively raised the starting salary of their employees. In April, Samsung Electronics raised the starting salary to 51.5 million won on the basis of last year's salary increase, and raised it by 7 million won in two years, surpassing SK Hynix in one fell swoop. The industry expects that SK Hynix will raise its salary again in the middle of the year to "hardly carry" Samsung Electronics.

With the advent of the era of global high inflation, companies with international competitiveness have a strong ability to raise salaries. High-tech companies and multinational groups in the United States and the UK have raised salaries one after another to stabilize the company's talent team. As Apple revealed in May, the company is boosting employee compensation by increasing its overall compensation budget, with the starting salary for Apple hourly workers in the U.S. rising to $22 an hour or more, a 45 percent increase from 2018 levels. Previously, Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent company Alphabet, etc. have all planned to help employees cope with inflation by raising wages.

British recruitment firm Robert Walters said that due to the shortage of talent, companies are looking for ways to improve their pay. Especially in high-skilled fields, it is very difficult to find suitable employees, which makes companies have to offer higher wages to attract corresponding high-tech talents.

This is the case with these globally competitive high-tech companies. On the other hand, traditional service industries such as the brick-and-mortar retail industry have suffered heavy losses during the epidemic, and the brain drain is serious. The way to raise wages for employees in these industries is difficult and tortuous. In several economies, workers in less competitive companies or traditional industries have gone on strike one after another to protest the negative impact of high inflation on living standards.

France raised the minimum wage to 1,302.64 euros a month after tax from May 1. Since October last year, the French minimum wage has been automatically increased by 6%; French wages in the first quarter of this year increased by 2%. In addition, most French employers want to increase the purchasing power of employees by issuing allowances or meal tickets, gift certificates, Macron bonuses, etc., rather than direct salary increases. In view of this, French energy, cosmetics, aviation, information technology, semiconductor and other industries, as well as sanitation workers, dock workers, truck drivers, etc. have taken strike action, or threatened to take action in the next few days. Karen Gournay, head of labor negotiations at the French Federation of Workers' Forces, concluded that the strike is in full swing, and calls for wage increases are everywhere, even in the banking industry. A nationwide strike by rail workers has been announced on July 6.

The strikes in European and American countries are noisily. Belgian workers went on strike across the country; German seaports and port workers held several warning strikes; about 40,000 railway workers in the UK went on strike, British post office workers went on strike for pay raises, and barristers in England and Wales also organized strikes ; Canadian railway workers strike; European airlines face a wave of strikes, with a large number of flight cancellations.

It can be seen that companies with more global competitiveness have higher levels of profitability and are more likely to meet the demands of employees for salary increases; while companies in traditional industries have relatively low profitability, and accordingly, labor-management conflicts are also more severe. complex.

Today, with the flow of talents, information exchange, transportation circulation, and technology dissemination more and more convenient, this kind of gap can be attributed to different industries, different companies, different technology levels, and different competitiveness. The further increase in the gap between the rich and the poor is more likely to trigger the Matthew effect of the strong becoming stronger.

As the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning and Finance of South Korea, Qiu Qingho's concerns and appeals are very representative: large companies are competing in terms of wages on the grounds of attracting talents. I hope that major companies can take into account the difficulties of national economic development, Avoid excessive pay raises...

Companies with limited profitability do not have enough confidence in the face of rising wages. Faced with the ever-rising minimum wage line, the Korea Research Institute said that the rapid rise in labor costs has put enormous pressure on business operations. South Korea is a typical export-oriented economy, in which the mainstay is the export processing enterprise. Seeing that orders are "snatched" by Southeast Asian countries with lower labor costs, it is full of helplessness. In a survey of SMEs, more than a quarter of South Korean SMEs said they would not rule out layoffs due to rising labor costs, thus facing the risk of further triggering brain drain. The confusion and worries of South Korean foreign trade companies may resonate with their counterparts in China, Japan and other countries.