Korea Minimum Wage 2026: 10,320 Won an Hour Explained

The minimum wage in Korea for 2026 is 10,320 won per hour. With the weekly holiday allowance counted in a 209-hour month, that works out to 2,156,880 won a month before tax. Think of it as the legal floor for a standard full-time schedule. It took effect on January 1, 2026.

How an Hourly Rate Becomes a Monthly Figure

A wall calendar with one week highlighted in a bright marker beside a stack of coins and a small calculator.

The hourly figure is the one the government announces each year. For 2026 it is 290 won above the 2025 rate of 10,030 won, a 2.9% increase. Korea's minimum wage is renewed every year and normally starts on January 1.

The monthly number is where first-timers get confused, because it isn't simply hours worked times the hourly rate. Korean law counts the paid weekly holiday as part of the pay owed, so a standard month is counted as 209 hours. Here is how that 209 is built.

A standard week has 40 working hours plus 8 paid holiday hours, which makes 48 paid hours.
An average month has 4.345 weeks. Multiply 48 by 4.345 and you get 208.56 hours, rounded to 209.
Multiply the 209 hours by the hourly rate and you land on the monthly figure at the top of this guide.

Two caveats keep this honest. The 209 is a rounded figure, so an exact calculation can differ slightly. It also assumes a 40-hour week with the holiday hours included. Treat it as a benchmark for a standard schedule rather than a rule for every job.

Who Gets the Weekly Holiday Pay

A part-time worker in an apron wiping a cafe counter while a wall clock shows mid-afternoon.

The weekly holiday allowance is a paid day off set by the Labor Standards Act (Article 55). You qualify once you work 15 hours or more a week. Under that line, the monthly conversion above doesn't fit your situation.

Nationality doesn't change the floor. The Korea minimum wage for foreigners is the same as for Koreans. It applies to full-time and part-time staff alike, whatever their paperwork status. For Korea minimum wage part-time work, the same hourly rate is calculated in proportion to the hours worked.

A part-timer at 15 hours or more gets the holiday allowance too. Their monthly hours are the weekly paid hours times 4.345. Check your contract hours and whether holiday hours are credited before you borrow anyone's monthly example. A quick estimate also assumes a steady, predictable schedule. It works poorly with shifts that change week to week.

A few groups sit outside the standard rule. Workplaces employing only live-in relatives, domestic workers and seafarers fall under separate laws, so check which one applies. Having a disability does not automatically exempt an employer from the floor. That takes statutory approval from the Labor Ministry.

Bonuses and Meal Money Count Toward the Floor

A payslip-style sheet lying beside a lunch box and a transit card on a wooden table.

Since 2024, bonuses paid regularly every month count in full toward the minimum wage. This holds as long as they meet the legal requirements. The same goes for cash-type benefits such as meal, lodging and transport allowances. So when you compare an offer with the floor, look at base pay plus these regular items, not base pay alone.

The final call depends on the nature of the payment, when it is paid and the statutory exclusions. Older write-ups that treated bonuses and welfare benefits as broadly excluded don't match current law.

Probation Cuts Pay Only in Narrow Cases

Korea minimum wage probation rules allow a cut, but only in tight conditions. An employer can pay up to 10% less for the first three months. That is allowed only when the contract runs one year or longer and the job isn't simple labor. A shorter contract or a simple-labor role doesn't qualify.

Pre-Tax Pay Isn't What Lands in Your Account

The monthly floor is a gross figure. The employee share of the social insurances comes out first. National pension takes 4.5%, health insurance 3.54% and employment insurance 0.9%. Together that is 8.94% before income tax and local income tax are added on top.

So don't plan rent and groceries around the pre-tax number. Take your real take-home from a payslip. Our monthly budget guide shows how to build a budget from it.

One more gap that hourly and monthly figures hide: there is no statutory paid sick leave for illness unrelated to work. A minimum-wage worker who falls ill uses annual leave or takes unpaid days.

What Changes in 2027, and How the US Compares

The next increase is already announced. From January 1, 2027, the Korea minimum wage rises 3.7%. The monthly figure assumes the same 209-hour basis.

Year	Hourly	Monthly (209 hours, pre-tax)
2026	10,320 won	2,156,880 won
2027	10,700 won	2,236,300 won

That is 380 won more per hour and 79,420 won more per month. It is the biggest jump since the 5% rise in 2023.

For a US reader, a useful yardstick is the American side, quoted in dollars. The federal minimum is $7.25 an hour. Most states set a higher one, and Washington's is $16.28. Tipped employees have their own federal base of $2.13 an hour.

The two systems aren't built the same way. A Korean offer should be tested twice. Check hourly pay against the hourly floor, then weekly hours against the 15-hour line for holiday pay.