Minimum wage to be 9,860 won per hour next year

The Minimum Wage Commission decided on Wednesday to raise next year’s minimum wage to 9,860 won per house, which is 240 won or 2.5 percent higher than this year. While whether the next year’s minimum wage would exceed 10,000 won or not was at the center of attention, it was settled for modest raise considering the recent economic crisis and the burden of companies that will be brought upon by higher wages. Both the business circles that called for freezing the wage and labor groups that called for over 10,000 won per hour showed dissatisfaction.

The Minimum Wage Commission held the 15th plenary meeting at 6 am on Wednesday, following an all-night meeting that started on Tuesday, and made a final decision on the minimum wage for 2024. The monthly salary including holiday pay would be 2,060,740 won for 209 hours of labor. Labor groups suggested 12,210 won per hour, which is up 26.9 percent compared to the current figure, while the business circles requested freezing the current minimum wage of 9,620 won per hour. On Tuesday, the two sides closed the gap in the eighth amendment down to 775 won (10,580 won for labor groups and 9,805 won for the business circles) after over 10 meetings. Then, members representing public interests proposed the lower limit of 9,820 won (2.1 percent increase) and the upper limit of 10,150 won (5.5 percent increase) as a deliberation range.

Not only South Korea but other major countries are adjusting their minimum wage increase rates. Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz increased the country’s minimum wage by 22 percent last year but decided to settle for just a three percent increase in 2024 and 2025. There are lawsuits going on in New York City regarding an attempt to sharply increase the hourly rates of food delivery app workers, such as Uber Eats, due to concerns about the economic crisis and the worsening of inflation.


doorwater@donga.com