Korea minimum wage 2026 and 2027, and the weekly holiday allowance
Korea’s minimum wage is ₩10,320 an hour in 2026 and ₩10,700 in 2027. For a 40-hour week that is ₩2,156,880 a month in 2026, because the monthly figure counts 209 paid hours: the hours worked plus a paid weekly holiday.
The official figures
Swipe the table sideways.
| Year | Hourly | Daily (8 hours) | Monthly (209 hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | ₩10,320 | ₩82,560 | ₩2,156,880 |
| 2027 | ₩10,700 | ₩85,600 | ₩2,236,300 |
The 2027 wage is ₩380 an hour higher. It applies from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2027, to every industry alike (Ministry of Employment and Labor Notice 2026-60: minimum wage for 2027).
Where 209 hours come from
The ministry’s notice for 2027 explains the monthly figure: a worker on 40 contractual hours a week is counted at 209 hours a month, including 8 paid weekly holiday hours a week. The method is in the Enforcement Decree of the Minimum Wage Act, Article 5: weekly paid hours, times the average number of weeks in a year, divided by 12.
(40 + 8) × 365 ÷ 7 ÷ 12 = 208.57… hours, stated in the notice as 209
2026: ₩10,320 × 209 = ₩2,156,880
2027: ₩10,700 × 209 = ₩2,236,300
The weekly holiday allowance
The Labor Standards Act gives workers at least one paid holiday a week on average. The pay for that day is the weekly holiday allowance (주휴수당). Two conditions come from the law:
- your contractual hours average 15 a week or more over four weeks (Labor Standards Act, Article 18), and
- you attended every contractual working day of that week (Enforcement Decree of the Labor Standards Act, Article 30). According to the ministry’s counselling answers, arriving late or leaving early does not count as an absence.
The amount is one day’s contractual hours times your hourly wage. For part-time workers the Enforcement Decree of the Labor Standards Act, Table 2 sets the day’s hours in proportion to a full-time worker. Worked out for a workplace where full-timers do 5 days and 40 hours a week, that gives:
paid holiday hours = weekly contractual hours ÷ 40 × 8, at most 8
20 hours a week on ₩10,320: 4 hours × ₩10,320 = ₩41,280 a week
At the 2026 minimum wage:
Swipe the table sideways.
| Hours a week | Paid holiday hours | Allowance a week | Weekly pay with allowance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 hours | none | ₩0 | ₩144,480 |
| 15 hours | 3 hours | ₩30,960 | ₩185,760 |
| 20 hours | 4 hours | ₩41,280 | ₩247,680 |
| 30 hours | 6 hours | ₩61,920 | ₩371,520 |
| 40 hours | 8 hours | ₩82,560 | ₩495,360 |
The weekly holiday also applies to workplaces with 4 or fewer workers.
Checking a monthly salary against the minimum wage
Divide the monthly pay by the hours per month. ₩2,500,000 a month for a 40-hour week is ₩2,500,000 ÷ 209 = ₩11,961 an hour. This is a simple comparison on base pay, the wage fixed and paid every month. Which allowances and bonuses count toward the minimum wage is a separate question that this site does not judge.
Sources
Opened and checked on 10 October 2026. The pages are in Korean.
- Minimum Wage Commission: minimum wage by year
- Ministry of Employment and Labor Notice 2026-60: minimum wage for 2027
- Enforcement Decree of the Minimum Wage Act, Article 5
- Labor Standards Act, Article 55
- Enforcement Decree of the Labor Standards Act, Article 30
- Labor Standards Act, Article 18
- Enforcement Decree of the Labor Standards Act, Table 2
- Ministry of Employment and Labor 1350 counselling answers on the weekly holiday allowance
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