Increase in minimum wage from January 1, 2020
l Increase in minimum wage from January 1, 2020
Under the revised Labor Standards Act, the minimum hourly wage in Korea will rise from KRW 8,350 to KRW 8,590. This change will take effect from January 1, 2020.
|
|
2019 |
From Jan 1, 2020 |
|
Minimum hourly wage |
Won 8,350 (Won 1,745,150 minimum monthly wage with 209 work hours per month) |
Won 8,590 (Won 1,795,310 minimum monthly wage with 209 work hours per month) |
The Minimum Wage Commission passed a proposal to set the minimum wage for 2020 at Won 8,590 per hour. This is an increase of Won 240 or 2.87% from this year's hourly minimum wage of Won 8,350. If translated into a monthly wage, this means Won 1,795,310 per month, an increase of Won 50,160 from this year (with 209 work hours per month including paid weekly holidays).
According to the Survey on Labor Conditions by Type of Employment by the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL), the 2020 minimum wage will influence an estimated 1.37 million workers (8.6% of the total labor force in Korea), while the Supplementary Results of the Economically Active Population Survey by the Statistics Korea estimates 4.15 million workers (20.7% of the labor force) will be subject to this new minimum wage.