A recent report reveals that 12% of wage workers in South Korea earn less than the minimum wage. The data indicates a higher prevalence among temporary workers, with a significant proportion being women.

According to the Minimum Wage Commission's '2026 Minimum Wage Review Manual' released on August 11, the number of workers earning below the minimum wage last year was 2.769 million, accounting for 12.4% of the total wage workforce of 22.413 million.

Over the past decade, the percentage of workers earning below the minimum wage rose until 2019, then began to decline, fluctuating since 2021.

The number of workers earning below the minimum wage by year includes 3.215 million (15.3%) in 2021, 2.756 million (12.7%) in 2022, 3.011 million (13.7%) in 2023, 2.761 million (12.5%) in 2024, and 2.769 million (12.4%) in 2025.

The proportion of workers earning below the minimum wage was higher in smaller businesses and among unstable employment types. Last year, 30.3% of workers in microbusinesses with 1 to 4 employees earned below the minimum wage, while 17.6% of those in businesses with 5 to 9 employees also fell below this threshold.

In contrast, only 1.8% of workers in businesses with over 300 employees earned less than the minimum wage. Among employment types, temporary workers (38.5%) and daily workers (32.0%) had higher rates of earning below the minimum wage, while regular workers stood at 3.6%.

Gender disparities were also evident, with 9.0% of men and 16.2% of women earning below the minimum wage.

Age and education level disparities were pronounced as well. Nearly half (49.5%) of workers under 19 earned below the minimum wage, and 31.9% of those aged 60 and older also received less than the minimum wage.

In terms of education, those with a high school diploma or less (22.5%) had a significantly higher rate of earning below the minimum wage compared to those with an associate degree (5.8%) or a bachelor's degree (4.3%).