Seoul Sets Next Year's Living Wage at 12,757 Won, Up 5.2%... Highest Increase in 8 Years

The living wage (hourly rate) for next year, which applies to some 14,000 non-regular and other workers at the Seoul Metropolitan Government and its affiliated institutions, will increase by 5.2% compared to this year.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced today (the 10th) that it has finalized next year's living wage at 12,757 won, up 5.2% (636 won) from this year's 12,121 won.

Converted on the basis of 40 hours per week and 209 hours per month, this amounts to 2,666,213 won per month.

The living wage is a wage standard set by the Seoul Metropolitan Government at a level higher than the minimum wage, taking into account workers' livelihood stability and quality of life, and is applied to temporary and other workers at the city and its affiliated institutions.

It was first introduced in 2015.

Regular civil servants of the Seoul Metropolitan Government are subject to wages determined by the Local Public Officials Act.

Next year's living wage is 19.2% (2,057 won) higher than the government-announced 2027 minimum wage of 10,700 won.

The increase rate also exceeds next year's minimum wage increase rate of 3.7%.

Seoul's living wage increase rate rose from 2.5% in 2024, 3.0% in 2025, and 2.9% this year to 5.2% next year.

Next year's increase rate is the highest since 2019 (10.2%).

The high increase rate this year is due to the impact of the government-driven "appropriate wage" policy and other factors.

The government previously announced in its budget proposal for next year that it will pay public-sector non-regular workers an appropriate wage equivalent to 118% of the minimum wage.

Converted into an amount, this is around 12,626 won.

The targets for Seoul's living wage application include approximately 14,000 people, such as directly hired workers of the Seoul Metropolitan Government and its investment and contribution institutions, workers at subsidiaries of investment institutions, workers at private consignment institutions operated 100% with city funds, and participants in attractive jobs programs.

Park Kyung-hwan, head of the Labor and Livelihood Bureau at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said, "In consideration of the increased livelihood burden on workers due to recent inflation and other factors, we significantly raised next year's living wage compared to the previous year," adding, "We will operate the system effectively so that the living wage can contribute to the substantial livelihood stability and improvement of the quality of life for workers."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.