Minimum wage and holiday allowance check

Who the minimum wage applies to

It applies to everyone who works in Korea — whatever your nationality, your status of stay or the kind of contract you signed. If your contract states a figure below the minimum wage, that part of the contract is void and the minimum wage applies instead (Minimum Wage Act, Article 6(3)).

How to tell whether a monthly salary meets it

You have to turn the monthly figure back into an hourly one. The number of hours you divide by is not the hours you actually worked — the paid weekly holiday hours are counted in as well.

Monthly hours = (contracted hours a week + weekly holiday hours) × 365 ÷ 7 ÷ 12

At 40 hours a week that is (40 + 8) × 4.345 ≈ 209 hours. That is where the familiar number comes from.

The weekly holiday allowance

If your contracted hours are 15 or more a week and you work all your scheduled days that week, you are owed one extra day’s pay (Labor Standards Act, Article 55). At 40 hours a week that is eight hours’ pay. Below 40 hours it is reduced in proportion.

Holiday allowance = (weekly hours ÷ 40) × 8 × hourly rate — capped at eight hours even if you work more than 40.

On a monthly salary it is usually already inside the figure you receive. On an hourly rate it must be paid separately. If you are paid by the hour and have never seen this allowance, it is worth checking.

What counts toward the minimum wage — and what does not

• Counts — base pay, bonuses paid regularly every month, and welfare payments such as meal or transport allowances (in full since 2024).
• Does not count — overtime pay, night-work pay, holiday-work pay, unused leave pay. Those are owed to you on top of the minimum.

So leave overtime, night and holiday premiums out of the box above. Putting them in makes your pay look higher than it is, and gives you the wrong answer.

The trainee reduction

If your contract runs for a year or more and you are within three months of starting your probation, your pay may be reduced to 90% of the minimum (Minimum Wage Act, Article 5(2)). But simple manual work is excluded — if your job is on the list published by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, you are owed the full minimum from your first day. Much routine work in manufacturing and construction is on that list.

If your contract runs for less than a year, no reduction is allowed at all, probation or not.

If you are being paid less

1. Gather your payslips, your contract and any record of your hours. Photographs of them are enough.
2. Call 1350 (Ministry of Employment and Labor) — free, with several languages available.
3. If that does not settle it, file a complaint. Claims for unpaid wages expire after three years.

Neither the advice line nor the complaint process asks about your visa status.

Where the calculation happens

Everything is worked out inside your own browser. The pay and hours you type are never sent to a server and are never stored.

This tool is for checking your own payslip. It is not legal advice, and the real answer can depend on your contract and the hours you actually worked.