Korea's Minimum Wage for Next Year Set at 10,030 KRW per Hour
The minimum wage for next year has been set at 10,030 KRW per hour.
This marks the first time the minimum wage has surpassed 10,000 KRW per hour. In terms of monthly salary, this amounts to 2,096,270 KRW.
However, the increase is only 170 KRW more than this year’s minimum wage of 9,860 KRW, resulting in a raise of just 1.7%. This is the second lowest increase ever, following a 1.5% increase in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Minimum Wage Commission began serious discussions on the wage level at 3 PM yesterday and continued into the night, changing the meeting sessions past midnight to conduct marathon negotiations.
Despite four rounds of proposals, the gap between the demands of labor and management remained at 900 KRW, with no further narrowing. The public interest members, who play a "casting vote" role, proposed a "review promotion range" between 10,000 KRW and 10,290 KRW. Labor and management then submitted their final proposals within this range.
In the final vote, the management's proposal of 10,030 KRW received 14 votes, while the labor's proposal of 10,120 KRW received 9 votes. Therefore, the management's proposal was decided as the minimum wage for next year.
Among the nine public interest members, it seems four voted for the labor proposal, and five voted for the management proposal.
Four worker representatives from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions boycotted the vote in protest against the review promotion range proposed by the public interest members.
Korea's Minimum Wage for Next Year Set at 10,030 KRW per Hour
The minimum wage for next year has been set at 10,030 KRW per hour.
This marks the first time the minimum wage has surpassed 10,000 KRW per hour. In terms of monthly salary, this amounts to 2,096,270 KRW.
However, the increase is only 170 KRW more than this year’s minimum wage of 9,860 KRW, resulting in a raise of just 1.7%. This is the second lowest increase ever, following a 1.5% increase in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Minimum Wage Commission began serious discussions on the wage level at 3 PM yesterday and continued into the night, changing the meeting sessions past midnight to conduct marathon negotiations.
Despite four rounds of proposals, the gap between the demands of labor and management remained at 900 KRW, with no further narrowing. The public interest members, who play a "casting vote" role, proposed a "review promotion range" between 10,000 KRW and 10,290 KRW. Labor and management then submitted their final proposals within this range.
In the final vote, the management's proposal of 10,030 KRW received 14 votes, while the labor's proposal of 10,120 KRW received 9 votes. Therefore, the management's proposal was decided as the minimum wage for next year.
Among the nine public interest members, it seems four voted for the labor proposal, and five voted for the management proposal.
Four worker representatives from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions boycotted the vote in protest against the review promotion range proposed by the public interest members.