Civil Servant Salaries Up 3.0%, Additional 3.6% Increase for Low Tenure
Positive Evaluation of Public Service... Improvements Needed in Meal Allowances
Ongoing Discussion on 'Fixed Raise' Favoring Low Tenure Employees
This year, the monthly salary of a Grade 9 civil servant has exceeded 2 million won for the first time. This is part of efforts to improve treatment to prevent the departure of low-ranking civil servants. While the public service sector is sending positive signals, discussions on a fixed-amount increase rather than a fixed-rate increase, which raises salaries by a certain percentage of the annual salary, are expected to continue.
According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 2nd, the amendment to the "Regulations on Civil Servants' Salaries and Allowances for 2025" was approved at the Cabinet meeting on the last day of last year, resulting in a 3.0% increase in civil servant salaries compared to last year. In particular, for low-ranking civil servants in Grades 7 to 9, an additional increase of up to 3.6% was applied, with Grade 9 Step 1 receiving a 6.6% raise.
Accordingly, the starting salary for Grade 9 civil servants, excluding allowances, rose from 1,877,000 won last year to 2,000,900 won this year, surpassing 2 million won for the first time. Including allowances, the amount increased from approximately 2.51 million won to 2.69 million won, reflecting an 180,000 won increase.
Until now, the main cause identified for the accelerated departure of low-ranking civil servants has been "low wages." Accordingly, the government also took steps last year to improve treatment by raising civil servant wages by 2.5% plus an additional 3.5% for low-ranking employees. At the Civil Servants' Salary Committee (Salary Committee), which includes labor, government, and experts, the labor union advocated for a "fixed-amount increase." This is because, within limited resources, a fixed-amount increase rather than a fixed-rate increase results in a higher wage increase level for low-ranking civil servants. According to the union, if the average civil servant's monthly salary base pay is increased by 3.3%, the raise for a Grade 9 Step 1 civil servant would be 123,800 won with a fixed-amount increase, compared to 62,200 won with a fixed-rate increase, creating a difference of about 60,000 won.
The public service sector is also responding positively to this increase plan. Park Jung-bae, spokesperson for the National Public Officials Labor Union, evaluated, "They did not reduce the proposed 3.0% increase rate and even provided a differential increase for low-ranking employees, and the long-service allowance was also revised." The union analyzes that with this additional increase, the monthly salary of a starting Grade 9 civil servant has become higher than this year's "household expenditure for single-person households," reflecting inflation.
However, spokesperson Park said, "What is regrettable is that the position allowance and meal allowance were not increased." The Salary Committee agreed on proposals to increase the position allowance by 25,000 won and the fixed meal allowance by 10,000 won, but these were not included in this amendment. Currently, the Salary Committee's decisions are at the level of "recommendations" without legal effect.
Going forward, the Salary Committee is expected to continue discussions on fixed-amount increases. Since September last year, the committee has formed a "Joint Labor-Government Research Group" to review fixed-amount application models and implementation scenarios. It is known that discussions have taken place on the need to introduce fixed-amount increases in necessary years, such as when the wage gap between low-ranking and higher-ranking civil servants widens, based on overseas cases currently under review.
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