Minimum wage for next year set at ₩10,320…First agreement in 17 years

Korea Economic Daily

Summary

It was announced that the minimum wage to be applied in 2026 has been set at ₩10,320.
It was stated that this is a 2.9% increase compared to this year’s minimum wage.
Although it was the first agreement in 17 years, it was described as a partial agreement due to the opposition from the labor side.

The minimum wage to be applied in 2026 has been set at ₩10,320. This is a 2.9% increase from this year’s minimum wage of ₩10,030.

On the 10th, the Minimum Wage Commission reached an agreement on the 2026 minimum wage at the 12th plenary meeting held at the Government Complex Sejong. This is the first time in 17 years that the minimum wage has been decided by agreement. However, since the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) worker commissioners walked out, the agreement ended up only partial.

The review of the minimum wage proceeds by narrowing the gap between the initial demands presented by labor and management. The initial gap between their proposals was ₩1,470 (labor: ₩11,500 vs management: ₩10,030), but this was narrowed down to a difference of ₩720 after several rounds of meetings.

However, as no further progress was made, the public interest commissioners proposed a ‘review facilitation range’ of between ₩10,210 (1.8%) and ₩10,440 (4.1%) at the 10th plenary session.

The labor side strongly protested the lower-than-expected rate of increase. The KCTU worker commissioners refused to submit amendments at the 12th plenary session and left the meeting room around 8:30.

Gwak Yong-hee, hankyung.com kyh@hankyung.com