Korea's minimum wage crossed 10,000 won: a discussion lesson for high schoolers
Korea's minimum wage passed 10,000 won for the first time in 2025 and has climbed twice since. Here's what the real numbers are now, and how to use them in a debate class instead of a hypothetical one.
Park English2026-09-093 min read
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Every summer, Korea's Minimum Wage Commission sits down and argues for weeks, and every January the number they land on becomes law. In 2025, that number crossed a line people had been watching for years. On August 5, the Ministry of Employment and Labor set the 2025 minimum wage at 10,030 won an hour, which works out to 2,096,270 won a month on a standard 40-hour week. It was the first time the hourly rate had ever gone over 10,000 won.
We're a year and a half past that now, so if you're using this in class, don't stop at 2025. The rate has moved twice since.
Where it actually stands
| Year | Hourly rate | Change | Monthly (209 hrs) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 9,860 won | – | ~2,060,740 won |
| 2025 | 10,030 won | +1.7% | 2,096,270 won |
| 2026 | 10,320 won | +2.9% | 2,156,880 won |
| 2027 (already set) | 10,700 won | +3.7% | ~2,236,300 won |
The 2026 rate came 290 won higher than the year before, a 2.9% jump, and monthly pay on a 40-hour week works out to 2,156,880 won. What made 2026 unusual wasn't the size of the raise. It was how it was decided. The 2026 figure was agreed at 2.9% above the previous year, and the decision was reached by consensus between labor and management for the first time in 17 years. That almost never happens. Most years the two sides can't agree and a panel of public-interest members casts the deciding vote.
2027 is already locked in, which tells you something about how fast this moves. Next year's minimum wage was confirmed at 10,700 won an hour, a 3.7% rise, decided at the 14th plenary meeting of the Minimum Wage Commission. By the time you read this, the number in your slides might already be one year behind. Check minimumwage.go.kr before you teach it.
Why nobody's fully happy
Ask your students who thinks 10,320 won is enough and who thinks it's too much, and you'll get a real argument, because the country is currently having the same one.
- Labor unions wanted much more. The two major umbrella unions had asked for 11,500 won for 2026, a 14.7% jump, arguing it was needed for workers to keep up with the actual cost of living. They didn't get it, and some labor representatives walked out of the negotiating room over it.
- Small business owners say even 2.9% is too much on top of everything else. A survey of small business owners found that nearly nine in ten feel the current minimum wage level is a heavy burden. More than half of them said they think a fair rate would actually be somewhere between 8,500 and 9,000 won, lower than what workers were earning back in 2021.
- Convenience stores keep bringing up the same fix. Franchise owners have repeatedly pushed for a separate, lower minimum wage for their industry, arguing round-the-clock stores can't absorb labor costs the way other businesses can. That proposal keeps getting rejected by the Commission, and keeps coming back the next year.
Running the lesson (45 minutes)
- Warm-up (5 min): Who has a part-time job, or knows someone who does? What do they make an hour?
- Input (10 min): Put the table on the board. Ask students to work out what a raise from 10,030 to 10,320 won actually means for someone working 20 hours a week.
- Debate (20 min): Split into three groups: "raise it further," "freeze it," and "small business owners." Two minutes each to make a case, then open it up.
- Wrap (10 min): One sentence each: would you rather have a higher hourly rate, or more hours available at the same rate? That question usually says more than the debate did.
One honest gap here: we don't have a solid, sourced figure for what share of Korean high schoolers actually hold part-time jobs, so don't invent one in front of the class. Ask them instead; they'll tell you, and it's usually more interesting than a national statistic anyway.