The ratio of nonpermanent in the entire paid workers at Korea's 20 largest securities companies exceeded 20 percent in the first quarter due to increased staff turnover rates, government data showed Tuesday.

In the January-March period, 20.8 percent of 30,174 workers at the 20 major brokerages held a short-term contract. It was up from 15.2 percent in 2014 and 18.6 percent last year, according to data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

"As a growing number of securities firms adopt a performance-based pay scheme, capable and experienced workers have moved to better-paying jobs in recent years," an FSS official said.

The total workforce at the 20 securities firms increased 0.51 percent in the March quarter from 30,020 at the end of last year. The number of permanent workers fell by 83 but that of nonpermanent workers rose by 237 during the cited period, the data showed.  

Among the 20 firms, the 1,411-strong Meritz Securities  had the highest ratio of nonregular workers, with seven out of 10 workers under a contract employment. Despite the exceptionally high ratio of contract employees, the annual salaries of Meritz workers averaged 48 million won ($48,300) in the first quarter, the highest level in the securities industry, the FSS said. The Meritz employees' average length of service was less than five years, it added.

In contrast, Samsung Securities had the lowest ratio of nonpermanent workers, at a mere 1.5 percent, with its employees' average length of service reaching nine years, it said. (Yonhap)