Korea Artificial Intelligence and Software Industry Association (KOSA) released the results of the "2025 software (SW) engineer wage survey" on the 23rd.
The survey found that the average daily wage for SW engineers applied in 2025 is 414,762 won, up 4.7% from 396,307 won a year earlier. The average wage includes base pay, various allowances, bonuses, retirement benefit provisions, and employer contributions (the four major insurances).
This survey, based on the Software Industry Promotion Act, is a statistical survey to identify the actual wages paid to SW engineers within corporations engaged in SW projects. It was conducted from September to October on 37,436 regular workers at more than 1,100 SW corporations. Job categories were divided into 17 roles based on the ITSQF, a competency framework for IT job roles.
By job, IT quality managers saw the highest wage increase at 14.5%, followed by IT testers at 14.1% and IT auditors at 14.0%. In addition, IT consultants at 10.9%, IT PMs at 10.8%, and data analysts at 10.2% recorded double-digit increases across quality, strategy, and management-centric roles.
Chair Cho Jun-hee of the Korea Artificial Intelligence and Software Industry Association said, "In the midst of rapid technological change in the SW industry, providing accurate wage information serves as an important standard for determining fair compensation and stabilizing labor supply in public and private SW projects," and added, "We will continue to make sustained efforts to advance the job framework and improve the accuracy and reliability of wage data."