Tag: wages

wages

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Construction worker in sun protection drinks from a plastic bottle under bright sunlight.

Day laborers face unpaid wages before Chuseok despite special enforcement by government

Workers say missing employment records compound delayed pay, blocking access to unemployment and industrial accident benefits.

2026.9.25

Visitors are seen at the Galleries Art Fair held at Coex in Gangnam District, southern Seoul on April 8. [YONHAP]

Korea’s art market grows, but working conditions for entry-level workers do not

Entry-level positions in art galleries offer low wages despite an increased demand for art. Interns face poor working conditions, while personal connections influence hiring, revealing systematic issues within the industry impacting new entrants.

2026.4.27

Most popular

Pedestrians walk across a crosswalk at an intersection near Gwanghwamun Square in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 19. [YONHAP]

Pay milestone in Korea masks underlying divide

Korean workers, on average, are now earning more than 50 million won ($33,000) a year — a milestone reached not through steady raises, but through a surge in bonuses that has widened the pay gap between big business and everyone else.

2026.3.23

Hanwha Ocean's shipyard is pictured on Nov. 27, 2025. [YONHAP]

Korea's renewed shipbuilding boom reignites grievances over subcontractor bonuses

As profits return to Korea’s shipyards after years of stagnation, so has an old fault line. A dispute over performance bonuses is exposing persistent inequalities between full-time workers and subcontracted labor that underpins much of the industry.

2026.1.26

Samsung Electronics' HBM4, a sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory solution for AI and HPC applications, is on display during the 2025 Korea Tech Festival in Seoul on Dec. 4, 2025. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Year-end bonuses at chip, shipbuilding firms to soar while battery companies scale back

Korea’s year-end corporate bonuses in 2025 are diverging sharply, with firms in semiconductors, power equipment and shipbuilding preparing record payouts while companies in petrochemicals and batteries scale back amid prolonged downturns.

2026.1.2

Korean and American troops take part in a combined river crossing drill in Yeoju, Gyeonggi on Aug. 27. [YONHAP]

Wages partially unpaid for Korean workers at U.S. Air Force: Source

Some Korean employees working for the U.S. Air Force stationed in Korea did not receive part of their wages for October, a source said Tuesday, raising questions over the cause of the incident.

2025.10.14

Daegu Samsung Lions Park is filled to capacity on Sept. 5. [SAMSUNG LIONS]

KBO to introduce salary floor in 2027

The Korean baseball league said it will introduce a team salary floor in 2027 to ensure more balanced competition while also requiring teams to spend a certain amount of money on player wages.

2025.9.24

Hyundai Motor President and co-CEO Lee Dong-seock, right, and labor union head Moon Yong-moon shake hands at the signing ceremony for the improved compensation package at the company’s Ulsan plant on Monday. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Hyundai Motor's starting pay as high as 90 million won in record deal with union

Hyundai Motor and its labor union agreed on a 4.65 percent wage increase as maximum starting compensation reaches 90 million won.

2024.7.16

Why overdue wages?

Korean workers’ overdue wages exceeded 1 trillion won ($740.2 million) in August. That makes the livelihood of the working class sad.

2023.9.26

'Why are they trying to go against the flow?'

The Future Labor Research Council, a think tank launched by the government, presented recommendations to reform the labor market including suggesting amendments related to working hour regulations.

2022.12.19