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Gov't to pay 'fairness allowance' to fixed-term public-sector workers

Published: 28 Apr. 2026, 16:59

A weekly Cabinet meeting is underway at the Blue House in Jongno District, central Seoul, on April 28. [NEWS1]

Starting next year, the government will introduce a new allowance for fixed-term workers in the public sector who work less than one year and are therefore ineligible for severance pay, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said Tuesday.

The ministry reported the planned creation of the "fairness allowance," intended to improve the treatment of public-sector nonregular workers, to President Lee Jae Myung at a Cabinet meeting.

The allowance will be a measure to address discrimination arising from employment contracts of less than one year, which are often used to evade severance pay, the ministry said, adding that up to 10 percent of the contracted salary will be paid.

Lee strongly raised an issue regarding discrimination against fixed-term workers during a Cabinet meeting in December. The fairness allowance for nonregular workers is a concept that Lee introduced for the first time in the nation during his term as governor of Gyeonggi.

According to a government survey, there are approximately 146,400 fixed-term workers in the public sector, and half of them, or 73,200, are workers with a contract of less than one year.

The average monthly wage for fixed-term workers was 2.89 million won ($1,962), while the wage for workers employed for less than one year was 2.8 million won. The government will thus pay the fairness allowance only to fixed-term workers employed in the public sector for less than one year.

The allowance payment rate will vary depending on the length of the employment contract, and the shorter the period, the larger the rate, since employment insecurity is greater for shorter contracts.

The compensation rate is 10 percent for workers on contracts of one to two months, 9.5 percent for contracts of three to four months, 9 percent for contracts of five to six months and 8.5 percent for contracts longer than six months.

Despite the introduction of the fairness allowance, the government said it will, in principle, prohibit employment contracts of less than one year in the public sector. The principle is to hire regular employees for full-time and continuous work, it said.

Yonhap