Upper Limit for Job-Seeking Benefits to Be Raised to 68,100 Won Next Year

Legislative Notice for Amendment to Employment Insurance Act Subordinate Statutes
Upper Limit for Job-Seeking Benefits Raised for First Time in Six Years
Includes Improvements to Substitute Worker Support Funds and More

Due to the increase in next year's minimum wage, an inversion has occurred where the lower limit of job-seeking benefits exceeds the upper limit. As a result, the upper limit for next year will be raised to 68,100 won.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that it will begin a 40-day public notice period starting October 2 for a partial amendment to the lower statutes of the Employment Insurance Act, which includes these changes.

The amendment bill announced by the Ministry covers the following: ▲ raising the upper limit of job-seeking benefits ▲ improving the period and method of substitute workforce support payments ▲ increasing the upper limit of the reference amount for parental leave reduced working hours benefits ▲ establishing a basis for delegating authority to implement employment insurance projects ▲ and simplifying the application procedures for work-sharing support payments.

The government decided to raise the upper limit of job-seeking benefits to address the situation where, due to the increase in next year's minimum wage (10,320 won per hour), the lower limit of job-seeking benefits linked to the minimum wage would surpass the upper limit. The upper limit for job-seeking benefits reflecting next year's minimum wage will be 68,100 won per person (based on 8 hours), which is a 3.18% increase compared to this year. The lower limit will be 66,048 won, and the difference between the upper and lower limits is similar to this year's gap (about 2.8%).

The government will also provide an additional month of substitute workforce support payments if a substitute employee continues to be employed after a parental leave worker returns, and will pay the full amount of support for the duration of substitute employment. With this amendment, the government expects to help returning employees adapt to their work after parental leave and to reduce the burden on small and medium-sized enterprises with limited financial resources by providing timely wage support.

To promote the use of reduced working hours during parental leave, the amendment will also increase the upper limit of the reference amount for calculating parental leave reduced working hours benefits: for the first 10 hours of reduction per week (100% of ordinary wage supported), the upper limit will be raised from 2.2 million won to 2.5 million won, and for the remaining reduced hours (80% of ordinary wage supported), from 1.5 million won to 1.6 million won.

The government will also establish a basis for delegating authority to private institutions to implement the new 4.5-day workweek support project (Work-Life Balance + 4.5 Project) to be launched next year. This new project supports workplaces that introduce a 4.5-day workweek through labor-management agreements, and the government plans to utilize the expertise of organizations such as the Korea Labor Foundation, which has previous experience with similar projects, by entrusting them with the work.

The application procedure for work-sharing support payments will be simplified. Currently, applicants must submit documents to prove the designation of work-sharing participants. Going forward, when employers apply for work-sharing support payments, they will be able to simply enter the designation information in the application form without submitting additional supporting documents.

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