Last year, the average monthly cost for companies to employ a full-time worker rose to 6.68 million won, a 5.0% increase from the previous year. While the growth rate of labor costs has expanded for two consecutive years, the disparity based on company size has widened.
According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor's '2025 Fiscal Year Labor Cost Survey' released on September 30, the average monthly labor cost per full-time employee at companies with 10 or more employees was recorded at 6.681 million won, up 320,000 won from 6.361 million won the previous year.
Labor costs encompass not only wages but also retirement benefits, social insurance premiums paid by the company, welfare expenses, and training costs. This figure differs from the salary received by workers. The growth rate of labor costs increased from 1.9% in 2023 to 3.8% in 2024, and then to 5.0% last year.
Breaking down the total labor costs by category, direct labor costs, including wages and bonuses, averaged 5.295 million won, a 4.1% increase from the previous year. Fixed salaries and overtime pay rose to 4.474 million won, up 3.8%, while bonuses and performance pay increased to 821,000 won, a rise of 5.9%.
Indirect labor costs averaged 1.386 million won, growing at a faster rate of 8.6% compared to direct labor costs. Costs for retirement benefits increased by 15.8% to 549,000 won, while statutory labor costs, including the company's share of social insurance premiums, rose by 4.7% to 503,000 won.
By company size, the average monthly labor cost per employee at companies with fewer than 300 employees was 5.364 million won, an increase of 72,000 won from the previous year. In contrast, companies with 300 or more employees reported an average of 8.29 million won, an increase of 538,000 won.
The monthly average labor cost gap between the two groups widened from 2.46 million won in 2024 to 2.926 million won last year, an increase of 466,000 won. When considering companies with 300 or more employees as a baseline of 100, the labor cost level for companies with fewer than 300 employees decreased from 68.3% to 64.7%, a drop of 3.6 percentage points.
The disparity was particularly pronounced in bonuses and performance pay. The average monthly bonus and performance pay per employee at companies with fewer than 300 employees was 335,000 won, only 23.6% of the 1.416 million won reported by companies with 300 or more employees. The previous year, these figures were 347,000 won and 1.333 million won, respectively. Smaller companies saw a decrease while larger companies experienced an increase, further lowering the relative level from 26.0%.
There was also a significant difference in indirect labor costs, which include retirement benefits and welfare expenses. Companies with fewer than 300 employees averaged 944,000 won, only 49.0% of the 1.926 million won reported by larger companies. This was a decline of 6.7 percentage points from the previous year's relative level of 55.7%.
Notably, training expenses were just 8,000 won for companies with fewer than 300 employees, compared to 45,000 won for those with 300 or more employees, resulting in a relative level of only 17.9%. Non-statutory welfare expenses were also significantly lower, averaging 157,000 won for smaller companies versus 480,000 won for larger firms, putting the smaller companies at 32.7% of the larger ones.
This survey was conducted among approximately 3,600 corporations employing 10 or more full-time workers. The classification of companies as having fewer than or more than 300 employees is based on the number of workers and differs from the legal definitions of small and large enterprises.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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