Korea · Hiring guide
Korea has strong IT/manufacturing talent, but retirement benefit accrues at about 30 days’ average wage per year and dismissal needs just cause. Employer insurance budgeting is about 10–13%, varying by base, status, employer size and industry workers compensation.
2026 budget estimate, not payroll or a government filing result. Uses NPS 9.5% split equally with the Jul-2026 KRW6,590,000 cap, health 7.19% plus LTC 0.9448% split equally, the sub-150-worker employment-insurance example and the 1.47% national-average workers-compensation rate. Actual foreign reciprocity, rounded bases, industry workers-comp, tax-free pay, withholding tables, credits, year-end settlement and retirement pay require NPS/NHIS/NTS/MOEL processing.
Statutory severance (퇴직금) is a hard cost — from 1 year, every year of service = 30 days’ average pay, payable within 14 days of leaving. Firms often miss it: it effectively adds ~one month’s pay per year.
Statutory severance (toejikgeum) = 30 days’ average wage × each year of continuous service (from 1 year), paid within 14 days of exit; or a retirement pension (DB/DC).
Example: Wage ₩3,000,000, 4 years: toejikgeum ≈ 30 days’ average wage × 4 ≈ 4 months ≈ ₩12,000,000 (paid within 14 days of exit).
Source: Labor Standards Act · Employee Retirement Benefit Security Act
Supporting detail
18/18 decision blocks · verified 2026-08-20 · review by undefined
At contracting, state and deliver in writing the statutory terms, including wage components/calculation/payment, agreed hours, holidays, annual leave, workplace and duties; issue a reconcilable wage statement for each payday. A workplace ordinarily employing ten or more workers must prepare, file and communicate rules of employment. A contract label, overseas-parent template or oral offer cannot reduce Korean mandatory standards.
Korea has no universal statutory probation cap; duration, assessment, extension and confirmation should be agreed in writing in advance. The exception allowing up to a 10% minimum-wage reduction is confined to the first three months of a contract lasting at least one year and excludes prescribed simple-labour roles; it is not a blanket probation discount. Hours, leave, insurance, discrimination and just-cause dismissal rules still apply.
The general statutory limit is eight hours/day and 40/week; agreed overtime is normally capped at 12 hours/week, producing the familiar 52-hour total. Provide at least 30 minutes’ break for four hours and one hour for eight. Overtime, night work (22:00–06:00) and holiday work attract at least a 50% ordinary-wage premium, with statutory stacking and a higher treatment beyond eight holiday hours. Many core rules generally apply at workplaces with five or more regular workers; micro-employers must check provision by provision rather than assume a blanket exemption.
From 1 January through 31 December 2026 the nationwide, all-industry minimum is KRW10,320/hour, KRW82,560 for eight hours and KRW2,156,880 on the notified 209-hour monthly basis. Korea has no regional minimum-wage variation; monthly, foreign, part-time and probation arrangements must still be converted and checked. The 209-hour figure assumes a 40-hour week plus paid weekly holiday and is not a fixed answer for every schedule. The 2027 rate was formally notified on 5 August 2026 at KRW10,700/hour (+3.7%), effective 1 January 2027, so year-crossing contracts and annual reviews should price it in. The notice is, however, under challenge: the Federation of Micro Enterprises filed a cancellation suit at the Seoul Administrative Court on 5 August 2026 together with a request for constitutional review, arguing that ability to pay was not adequately weighed and that sector-differentiated rates were excluded. Note that a suit is not a suspension — no stay of effect has been issued and the notice stands, but treat the figure as contestable until judgment and keep a review point in longer-range cost models.
Minimum wage is not a professional offer. Benchmark by the actual Seoul/regional workplace, job family, industry, seniority, employer size, fixed pay, fixed overtime, bonus and total cash, with a dated sample; cross-check live Work24 roles against official labour/wage statistics. One platform average, a visa salary threshold or a Seoul sample is not a national market median.
Wages must generally be paid in currency, directly, in full, at least monthly and on a fixed date, except deductions authorised by law or a valid collective agreement; provide a wage statement each time. Reconcile attendance, overtime/night/holiday hours, ordinary wage, insurance bases, income-tax withholding and bank payment. On exit, wages and other sums are generally due within 14 days after the event unless the parties extend for special circumstances.
For 2026, workplace National Pension is 9.5% total, 4.75% each; standard monthly income is KRW410,000–6,590,000 from July 2026 through June 2027. Employee health insurance is 7.19% split equally, plus 0.9448% total long-term-care insurance (converted through the health premium), normally split equally and due by the 10th of the next month. Employment insurance unemployment benefit is 0.9% each, with another 0.25%–0.85% employer-only stability/training charge. Workers’ compensation is employer-only and industry/experience based; the 2026 national average 1.47% is not every employer’s rate. Withhold wage income tax using NTS tables and family declarations, perform year-end settlement and treat local income tax separately.
The calculator is a 2026 budget estimate only, using current NPS rates/bases, total health/LTC rates, the employment-insurance example for an employer below 150 workers, the 1.47% national-average workers’ compensation rate and approximate annual tax. It does not model rounded insurance bases, foreign reciprocity/social-security agreements, health caps/non-wage income, industry workers’ compensation, ordinary wage, tax-free allowances, family columns, credits, year-end settlement or exact retirement pay. It is not payroll or a government filing.
A worker with at least 80% attendance generally receives 15 paid annual-leave days after one year. Before one year, or where prior-year attendance is below 80%, one day generally accrues for each continuous month worked. After three years, one extra day accrues for each additional two years, capped at 25. Statutory use-promotion or planned-leave procedures may apply, but public holidays, weekly rest or unpaid sickness cannot replace annual leave; exit payment and unused balances depend on valid limitation/use records.
Eligible workers receive at least one paid weekly holiday on average, and private workplaces with five or more regular workers are also covered by statutory paid public holidays. Holiday work generally attracts at least a 50% premium for the first eight hours and 100% beyond eight, with night-work stacking. A written employee-representative agreement can lawfully substitute holidays, but not every calendar red day is simply “double pay,” nor should a paid holiday be deducted twice from monthly salary.
Korea has no universal employer-paid sickness quota for every private employee; occupational injury, company sick leave, annual leave and unpaid absence are separate. Maternity leave is generally 90 days (120 for multiple births), with at least 45 postnatal days (60 for multiples). Since 23 February 2025, spouse childbirth leave is 20 paid working days, generally used within 120 days and split up to three times. The parental-leave baseline is one year; it can reach 18 months where both parents each use at least three months, for a single parent or a child with severe disability and other statutory cases. Leave rights, employer pay and employment-insurance benefits are distinct.
Minimum wage, overtime/holiday pay, annual leave, applicable four insurances, family leave and retirement benefits are not optional perks. A worker with at least one continuous year and average agreed hours of at least 15/week generally earns retirement benefit equal to 30 days’ average wage per service year. A 13th salary, fixed bonus, meals, housing, private medical and supplemental retirement benefits are not universally statutory, but contract, work rules, collective agreement or established practice can make them payable.
Dismissal requires just cause and written notice of the reason and date. Thirty days’ advance notice or 30 days’ ordinary wage is a separate duty, not a right to dismiss without cause. Managerial redundancy also requires urgent business necessity, avoidance efforts, fair/reasonable selection and good-faith consultation with employee representatives. A worker with one year and average 15+ agreed hours/week generally also receives 30 days’ average wage per service year, normally paid within 14 days after exit. An unfair-dismissal remedy is generally filed with the Labor Relations Commission within three months.
Worker status follows actual subordination and control, not a freelancer/mandate label, invoice, sole-business registration or remote status. Assess direction, time/place constraints, substitution, tools/costs, whether pay rewards labour, exclusivity, organisational integration and tax/insurance treatment as a whole. Misclassification can create wage, overtime, leave, retirement, tax/social-insurance and injury liabilities; a genuine independent engagement still needs clear deliverables, risk, data and IP terms.
Incorporation, shareholding/directorship, an offer, visa-issuance confirmation or visa application creates no work right. Before start, verify the granted status, permitted activity, employer/workplace, period and any workplace-change/addition permission or report; C-3-4 cannot work. E-9/H-2 and similar routes additionally involve employment permits, insurance, accommodation/conditions and employment-change reporting. NPS can depend on nationality reciprocity or a social-security agreement, so foreign workers cannot be uniformly excluded from all four insurances.
Recruiting conditions must be truthful, job-related and comply with applicable sex, age, disability, nationality/race and other anti-discrimination rules; advertised pay/hours cannot fall below law. Work24 provides official vacancy, matching and foreign-employment services, but one platform’s traffic is not a hiring success rate. Maintain a dated funnel by city, job family, seniority, language, source, qualified rate, time-to-hire, cost and retention; verify recruitment-agency licensing and fee boundaries.
Where an employer sets mandatory retirement, it cannot be below 60; a lower stated age is generally treated as 60. Retirement age, NPS pension eligibility, fixed-term expiry, re-employment and retirement benefit are separate. Reaching 60 does not legitimise an earlier termination or automatically guarantee re-employment; work rules should define the date convention, handover, rehire conditions and benefit treatment.
Before hire: identity, written terms, actual workplace, minimum wage, status/workplace authority and four-insurance eligibility. Onboarding: deliver contract/pay information, register pension/health/employment/injury and foreign reports, and maintain work rules at 10+ workplaces. Monthly: attendance, 52-hour/holiday controls, wage statements, insurance by the 10th, income/local tax. Annually: refresh minimum wage, rates/bases, leave, health exams, year-end settlement, work rules and retirement funding. At exit: written grounds, 30-day notice, final wages/retirement within 14 days, insurance/foreign changes and immigration follow-up; retain owner, deadline and receipt.
For a local employee on ₩3,000,000/month, employer monthly cost is about ₩3,343,122 (overhead +11.4%), ~₩40,117,464 annualized. Use the calculator as a budgeting estimate and verify payroll filings with the relevant authority.
2026 NPS 9.5% (4.75% each; Jul base KRW410k–6.59m), health 7.19% plus LTC 0.9448% (normally split), and employment insurance; an employer planning range is about 10–13%, but workers comp and foreign reciprocity prevent a fixed rate
Needs a just cause + 30 days’ notice (or 30 days’ wage); plus statutory severance toejikgeum = 30 days’ average wage/year of service (from 1 year), paid within 14 days of exit. Unfair dismissal can be ordered reinstatement + back pay by the Labor Commission.
~10–11%: National Pension 4.5% + health ~3.5% (+ long-term care) + employment ~1.15% + workers-comp ~0.7%. Employees also pay income tax (progressive) + ~10% local income tax.
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Deeply researched and maintained against official sources as of the verification date shown; rates and processes are for reference — for major decisions rely on each country’s authorities and local counsel.