Gyeongbuk Province Sets 2025 Living Wage at 11,670 Won per Hour... Applies to Temporary Workers at Provincial Office and Public Enterprises

Higher Than Minimum Wage of 10,030 Won
Applied for Third Year... 1.5 Billion Won Budget Allocated

Gyeongbuk Province recently announced on the 22nd that it held the '2025 Living Wage Committee for the Determination of the Living Wage' and decided to set next year's living wage at 11,670 won per hour, a 2.1% increase from this year's 11,433 won.

The 'living wage' is a policy-driven and social wage designed to guarantee a minimum standard of living for workers by supplementing the minimum wage with additional monetary values for education, culture, and housing, thereby maintaining human dignity and ensuring a practical standard of living.

Gyeongbuk Provincial Government

Gyeongbuk Province's living wage was established based on the 'Gyeongsangbuk-do Living Wage Ordinance,' which was enacted and promulgated on January 6, 2022. Now in its third year, the wage is determined through a comprehensive review by the committee, reflecting the minimum wage increase rate, Gyeongbuk's consumer price inflation rate, and public servant salary increase rate, resulting in a final hourly wage of 11,670 won after a vote by the committee members.

Next year's living wage in Gyeongbuk is set at 1,640 won (16.4%) higher than the government-announced minimum wage of 10,030 won (a 1.7% increase from the 2024 minimum wage of 9,860 won). When converted to a monthly salary (based on 209 hours), it amounts to 2,439,030 won.

The committee also decided to expand the scope of next year's living wage recipients from only Gyeongbuk Province's temporary workers to include employees of provincial-invested and funded institutions. As a result, from January 1, 2025, not only provincial employees but also workers at provincial-invested and funded institutions will benefit, with an estimated budget of 1.5 billion won to be allocated next year.

Choi Youngsook, Director of Economic and Trade Affairs for Gyeongbuk Province, stated, "Through Gyeongbuk Province's living wage system, we hope that workers can maintain a stable standard of living in areas such as education, culture, and housing, and that the system will spread to the private sector so that low-wage workers can broadly benefit."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.