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A Bank of Korea (BOK) employee surnamed Lee said her younger peers have left for tech and analyst jobs at internet-only banks for higher salaries.

"I heard some cases of entry- and low-level employees landing jobs at Toss Bank and KakaoBank," she said.

"The internet-only lenders pay up to twice our salary, or at least 1.5 times. More money means better job satisfaction. Add that to the feeling of being underappreciated compared to friends from university earning far more — they may have no reason not to leave."

The "exodus" is most pronounced at select departments at the central bank.

"Many are practically buried under the mountains of economic reports every single day. The work is beyond demanding — intellectually, mentally and physically. Frequent overtime is not helping," Lee said.

The hard work is not at all compensated in the form of a monetary reward that matches the work and capabilities required, she added. "When working hard translates into monetary compensation, hanging in there is less difficult. But if not, everything can become pointless very fast."

Also at play is the sense of prestige, as defined by Paul Graham, a highly prestigious venture capitalist.

"Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy," his quote goes.

"It causes you to work not on what you like but what you'd like to like. Prestige is just fossilized inspiration. If you do anything well enough, you'll make it prestigious. Plenty of things we now consider prestigious were anything but at first. Jazz comes to mind — though almost any established art form would do. So just do what you like, and let prestige take care of itself."

Bank of Korea headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Bank of Korea

This seems to be the perception tied to workers at the central bank being seen as the smartest group in the country, according to Lee. "The name value itself is close to unmatched, many would agree. But it gets hard from time to time."

The sense of dejectedness is prevalent, a point of concern for politicians to weigh in.

On Monday, Rep. Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party met with unionized workers of the BOK and criticized the current BOK salary cap system.

"The BOK salary is determined by the finance ministry, a system that is outdated, anti-market and unsustainable," he said during a seminar with the workers.

Highly capable employees are shunning public sector jobs, frustrated by the widening wage gap between the public and private sectors, he said. "This will end up undermining the quality of public services."

Rep. Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party speaks during a seminar at the Korea Federation of Banks in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

He cited legal professionals' pay system as another example. "Highly capable legal professionals often opt for large law firms over public sector jobs, influenced by a pay gap of over five times. Prosecutors representing the victim should not be less competent than the defense lawyers representing offenders."

Lee suggested that the solution can be matching the pay to the level of their private peers in similar capacities.

"We should emulate Singapore, where human exchanges are vibrant between the private and public sectors. The salary system fosters a virtuous cycle whereby top-tier talents take jobs irrespective of the sectors."

The central bank said of 37 employees who quit in 2022, 27 were in their 30s. In 2023, of the 130 who left, eight were 29 and younger, while 14 were in the 30 to 39 age group. Last year, of the 111 who quit, one was younger than 29, while 12 were in the 30 to 39 age group.

According to the National Assembly Strategy and Finance Committee, BOK employees' salaries averaged 107 million won in 2023.

In contrast, the figure for employees at the country's top four commercial lenders — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori — stood at 116 million won.