Minimum wage in South Korea

The South Korean government enacted the Minimum Wage Act on December 31, 1986. The Minimum Wage System began on January 1, 1988. At this time the economy was booming,^[1] and the minimum wage set by the government was less than 30 percent of that of real workers. The Minister of Employment and Labor in Korea asks the Minimum Wage Commission to review the minimum wage by March 31 every year. The Minimum Wage Commission must submit the minimum wage bill within 90 days after the request has been received by the 27 committee members. If there is no objection, the new minimum wage will then take effect from January 1. The minimum wage committee decided to raise the minimum wage in 2018 by 16.4% from the previous year to 7,530 won (US$7.03) per hour. This is the largest increase since 2001 when it was increased by 16.8%.

However, the government officially admitted that the policy of raising the minimum wage to 10,000 won by 2020, which had been the initial target but which the government had been forced to forego, had also caused a great burden on self-employed businesses and deteriorated the job market.^[2] In addition, there are opinions from various media that the minimum wage law is not properly applied in Korea.^[3][4]