Daejeon City Announces Next Year's Living Wage at 10,460 KRW per Hour... 1,300 KRW Higher Than Minimum Wage

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Daejeon City announced on the 5th that it has set the living wage for next year at 10,460 KRW per hour.

The living wage is a wage policy that supports the stabilization of public sector workers' livelihoods and enables practical living in various fields such as education, culture, and housing.

The city recently decided through the Living Wage Committee's review to raise next year's living wage by 258 KRW (2.53%) compared to this year.

This amount is 1,300 KRW (14.2%) higher than next year's minimum wage per hour (9,160 KRW). The city finalized the living wage by considering special economic conditions such as COVID-19, the average real wage increase rate over the past six years, the minimum wage increase rate, workers' living expenses, and wage levels of similar workers.

The living wage will be applied from January next year to workers affiliated with the city hall, public corporations and foundations, invested and funded institutions, and private consignment institutions.

In particular, next year, the scope of application of the living wage will be expanded to all workers performing private consignment projects who receive matched funding from the national and city governments, instead of only private consignment institution workers who were previously fully supported by city funds. Through this, the city expects that more workers will benefit from the living wage compared to last year.

Ko Hyun-deok, Director of the City Job and Economy Bureau, said, “The living wage is a type of wage policy that guarantees the practical livelihood of low-wage workers in the public sector,” and added, “The increase in the living wage per hour next year is the result of careful consideration to improve workers' quality of life and resolve income inequality between classes.”