South Korean Employer Rates and Thresholds 2026

Korean employers pay into four social insurances: national pension, health insurance (with long-term care insurance collected alongside it), employment insurance and industrial accident insurance. Pension, health, long-term care and the unemployment part of employment insurance are split equally with the employee; the employment stability part and industrial accident insurance are paid by the employer alone.

Only the national pension has a ceiling that matters for typical salaries: ₩6,590,000 a month from July 2026. Employers also pay a 0.09% wage claim guarantee levy and must fund severance pay of at least 30 days' average wages for each year of service.

Employer contributions, levies and severance accrual for a full year at 2026 rates, for an employer with fewer than 150 workers in professional services:

The 2025 pension reform raises the contribution rate by 0.5 points a year, split equally between employer and employee, until it reaches 13% in 2033:

• ₩10,320 an hour from 1 January 2026, or ₩2,156,880 a month for a 40-hour week (209 hours including the paid weekly holiday). It applies to all businesses alike. It rises to ₩10,700 an hour (₩2,236,300 a month) on 1 January 2027.
• Working hours may not exceed 40 a week and 8 a day, excluding breaks. By agreement, they can be extended by up to 12 hours a week.
• Overtime and night work (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.) are paid at least 50% on top of ordinary wages. Holiday work is paid at least 50% extra for up to 8 hours and 100% extra beyond 8 hours.
• Employees get at least one paid holiday a week on average, given to those who worked all their scheduled days that week.
• Workplaces with five or more employees must give the public holidays in the Regulation on Holidays of Government Offices (other than Sundays) as paid holidays, plus substitute holidays. Under the regulation as amended with effect from May 2026, these are 1 January, the three days of Seollal, 1 March, Buddha's Birthday, Labour Day (1 May), Children's Day (5 May), Memorial Day (6 June), Constitution Day (17 July), Liberation Day (15 August), the three days of Chuseok, 3 October, Hangul Day (9 October) and Christmas, plus national election days.
• Employees who attend at least 80% of a year get 15 days' paid leave. In the first year, they get one day for each full month worked. From the third year, one day is added for every two years of service after the first, up to 25 days.

• The Labor Standards Act applies to every business or workplace that regularly employs five or more employees. For workplaces with four or fewer, only some provisions apply, as set by Presidential Decree.
• An employer may not dismiss an employee without justifiable cause, and must give the grounds and timing of dismissal in writing; a dismissal without written notice has no effect. Dismissal for managerial reasons needs an urgent managerial necessity, efforts to avoid it, fair selection criteria and 50 days' consultation.
• At least 30 days' notice, or at least 30 days' ordinary wages instead. This doesn't apply to employees with less than three months' continuous service, among other exceptions.
• Employers must set up a retirement benefit scheme for employees with a year or more of service working 15 or more hours a week. Severance pay is at least 30 days' average wages for each year of service; under a defined contribution plan, the employer pays at least one twelfth of annual wages each year.
• Fixed-term employees can be used for up to two years in total, including renewals. An employee kept on beyond two years without a legal exception is treated as employed on an open-ended contract.
• Only agencies licensed by the Minister of Employment and Labor may dispatch workers, only to jobs listed by Presidential Decree (excluding direct production work in manufacturing), for up to one year, extendable to two years in total. A client that breaks these limits must employ the worker directly, and dispatched workers may not be treated less favourably than comparable employees.

Changes to these rates and rules, newest first. Every country is covered in our law changes tracker.

• From 1 January 2027: Korean national pension rate rises to 10%. Under the National Pension Act as amended in April 2025, the contribution rate rises from 9.5% to 10% of standard monthly income in 2027, split equally: the employer pays 5.00% (4.75% in 2026). It keeps rising by 0.5 points a year to 13% in 2033.
• From 1 January 2027: Korean minimum wage rises to ₩10,700 an hour. The Ministry of Employment and Labor set the 2027 minimum wage on 5 August 2026 at ₩10,700 an hour (up 3.7% from ₩10,320), or ₩2,236,300 a month on 209 hours, for all businesses.
• From 1 July 2026: Korean pension income ceiling rises to ₩6,590,000 a month. From July 2026 to June 2027, pension contributions are charged on standard monthly income between ₩410,000 and ₩6,590,000 (previously ₩400,000 and ₩6,370,000).
• From 1 January 2026: Korean wage claim guarantee levy rises to 0.09%. From 1 January 2026, employers pay 0.09% of total pay (0.9/1,000) into the wage claim guarantee fund, up from 0.06%, under MOEL notice 2025-100.