South Korea's Wage Divide Widens as Higher Pay Reaches a Record and Youth Jobs Shrink

Record pay at the top, fewer wage earners

More than half of South Korea's wage earners received at least 3 million won a month in April 2026, the first time that threshold has been crossed in the survey's history. Yet 9.8% earned less than 1 million won, while the total number of wage earners fell for the first time in a first half survey since 2020.

The National Data Office's Regional Employment Survey for the First Half of 2026: Characteristics of Employed Persons by Industry and Occupation, released on October 27, counted 22.373 million wage earners, down 43,000 from April 2025. The share receiving at least 5 million won reached 17.6%, the highest first half figure since the series began in 2013.

The changes reveal two developments happening together. More workers are entering higher monthly pay brackets, helped by wage increases and bonuses, including payments in the semiconductor industry. At the same time, the share in the lowest bracket is growing, and employment gains are concentrated in care services where high monthly earnings are relatively uncommon.

Young people face another pressure: fewer jobs. Employment among people aged 15 to 29 fell by 194,000, while employment among those aged 50 and older increased by 200,000. Retail and media work contracted for younger workers as welfare services expanded largely through hiring older people.

For workers, the national figures therefore describe very different experiences. A finance employee receiving a bonus, a young person seeking a shop job and an older worker entering care services are participating in a labour market moving in several directions.

Where monthly earnings now stand

The share earning at least 3 million won rose from 49.9% to 51.9% over the year. Workers receiving at least 4 million won accounted for 29.1%, compared with 27.5% a year earlier.

The survey divided wage earners into six monthly earnings brackets:

• Less than 1 million won: 9.8%.
• At least 1 million but less than 2 million won: 9.3%.
• At least 2 million but less than 3 million won: 29.0%.
• At least 3 million but less than 4 million won: 22.8%.
• At least 4 million but less than 5 million won: 11.5%.
• At least 5 million won: 17.6%.

The largest single group remained workers earning between 2 million and 3 million won. Its share fell by 1.6 percentage points, while the share earning between 1 million and 2 million won declined by 0.6 points. Both higher earnings and growth at the bottom are reshaping the distribution.

About 3.93 million workers received at least 5 million won, up from roughly 3.66 million a year earlier. Applying the 9.8% share to the wage earner total puts the number receiving less than 1 million won at approximately 2.19 million.

What the pay measure includes

The survey calculates average monthly earnings from compensation received from a worker's main job over the preceding three months. It includes bonuses and payments in goods as well as regular wages. A large bonus can therefore move someone into a higher bracket during the measurement period.

Semiconductor bonuses were identified as one contributor to the growing share of higher earners. Kim Rak-hyun, head of the agency's employment statistics division, also pointed to the continuing movement into higher wage brackets and the effect of increases in nominal wages.

Nominal wages are amounts expressed in won. Purchasing power describes what that money can buy. When prices rise, workers need more won to purchase the same goods and services. The survey figures presented here do not include a calculation of how purchasing power changed.

Finance and manufacturing pull ahead

Finance and insurance had the largest share of workers earning at least 5 million won, at 40.5%. That was up from 37.2% a year earlier, an increase of 3.3 percentage points. Professional, scientific and technical services followed at 37.5%, ahead of information and communications at 35.8%.

Manufacturing's share rose from 22.9% to 25.4%. Put simply, slightly more than one in four manufacturing wage earners reached the 5 million won bracket, compared with slightly fewer than one in four a year earlier. Semiconductor bonuses contributed to that change.

The differences extended across occupations. Among managers, 82.0% received at least 5 million won a month. Among professionals and related workers, the share was 30.1%. At the other end, 33.1% of workers in elementary occupations, a category covering basic routine tasks, earned less than 1 million won.

Accommodation and food services had a particularly small share of higher earners: 1.6% received at least 5 million won. The gap between industries helps explain why a record national share in the highest bracket can coexist with low monthly incomes for many workers.

Care jobs grow, but monthly pay stays low

Health and social welfare services presented the sharpest contrast between expanding employment and low monthly earnings. Only 5.8% of wage earners in the sector received at least 5 million won. Meanwhile, 29.1% received less than 1 million won, the highest share among industries.

Facilities providing welfare services without residential accommodation employed 1.843 million people, an increase of 155,000. These include community welfare centres and services that visit people in their homes. Workers aged 50 and older accounted for 141,000 of the increase, or about 91%.

Kim attributed some growth in the lowest earnings bracket to the changing composition of workers outside regular employment. He said an increase in people working part time or on contracts for a fixed period appeared to have contributed to the rise. Monthly earnings reflect both pay rates and the amount of work performed, so working hours matter when understanding this group.

Welfare becomes a larger employer

Employment at welfare facilities without residential accommodation more than doubled from 889,000 in the first half of 2018 to 1.843 million in 2026. Their share of all employed people reached 6.4%, crossing 6% for the first time.

Those facilities overtook restaurants as the largest detailed industry category by employment in the previous year's first half survey. They now employ 200,000 more people than restaurants, which had 1.643 million workers.

Women accounted for 1.499 million workers in these welfare facilities. Men nevertheless represented 66,000 of the latest annual increase, showing that the expansion is drawing in workers beyond the sector's predominantly female workforce.

Hospitals added 64,000 workers and clinics added 26,000 as demand for medical and welfare services increased with population ageing. At a broader industry level, social welfare services employed 2.102 million people, just 19,000 fewer than restaurants and drinking establishments, which employed 2.121 million.

Younger workers lose retail and media jobs

Employment among people aged 15 to 29 fell to 3.424 million, down 194,000 from a year earlier. Store sales employment in this age group dropped by 36,000 to 245,000. Across all ages, the number of store sales workers fell by 65,000 to 1.475 million.

The spread of kiosks and unattended checkouts was identified as a factor in the decline in young store sales workers. Such equipment allows customers to place orders or pay with less direct assistance from employees, changing staffing needs in shops and service businesses.

Young workers also lost ground in film, video and television programme production and distribution. Employment in that industry fell from 46,000 to 33,000, a decline of about 28%, amid weaker investment in content production.

Hospitals and higher education institutions each added 9,000 workers aged 15 to 29. Those gains offered opportunities in specific areas, while the total for the age group continued to fall. By comparison, employment among people aged 50 and older reached 13.78 million.

Total employment rises while wage employment falls

South Korea had 28.961 million employed people in April, up 74,000 from 28.887 million a year earlier. That increase was smaller than the previous year's gain of 194,000. Wage earners, however, declined by 43,000 to 22.373 million.

Total employment includes wage earners as well as people working outside paid employee relationships, such as the self employed. The two figures can therefore move in opposite directions. The latest results show modest growth in the wider workforce alongside a contraction in the number of employees receiving wages.

The fall in wage earners was the first recorded in a first half comparison since the early COVID-19 period in 2020, when the decline was 382,000. The latest drop was much smaller, but followed an increase of 276,000 in the previous year's first half survey.

Job losses were concentrated in several industries. Crop cultivation lost 82,000 workers, architectural and engineering services lost 62,000, and general retail lost 31,000. Real estate related services added 29,000. Among people aged 30 to 49, hospitals added 38,000 workers, while architectural and engineering services lost 34,000.

How the changes developed

The survey's April reference date and October publication date describe different stages: the figures measure employment conditions in April, while the detailed industry and occupation results were released later. The wage measure also looks back over the preceding three months.

• 2013: The statistical series used for the first half wage comparisons began.
• First half of 2018: Welfare facilities without residential accommodation employed 889,000 people.
• First half of 2020: Wage employment fell by 382,000 during the early COVID-19 period.
• April 2025: The share earning at least 3 million won stood at 49.9%; welfare facilities had overtaken restaurants in the detailed employment ranking.
• April 2026: The share earning at least 3 million won reached 51.9%, while wage employment declined by 43,000.
• October 27, 2026: The agency released the detailed industry and occupation findings.

Higher monthly pay is reaching more employees, while care services are absorbing a growing share of employment and younger workers are losing positions in retail and media. Together, those shifts explain why record earnings at the top are arriving alongside continued pressure at the bottom.

Key Points

• Some 51.9% of wage earners received at least 3 million won a month, the first majority in the series.
• The share receiving at least 5 million won reached a record 17.6%, while 9.8% earned less than 1 million won.
• Wage employment fell by 43,000 to 22.373 million, the first first half decline since 2020.
• Finance and insurance led the higher earnings bracket; health and social welfare had the largest share below 1 million won.
• Welfare facilities added 155,000 workers, with people aged 50 and older accounting for about 91% of that increase.
• Employment among people aged 15 to 29 fell by 194,000, including losses in store sales and media production.