Signal Wage gaps widened, wage arrears passed two trillion won and non-standard work grew

Summary

The government reports that hourly wages of non-regular workers at large firms fell from 69.1 to 62.3 percent of large-firm regular workers between 2021 and 2024. Over the same period, regular workers at small firms slipped from 58.6 to 57.7 percent and non-regular workers there from 45.6 to 41.5 percent. Unpaid wages reached 2.0 trillion won in 2024, exceeding two trillion for the first time, with 71 percent at workplaces of fewer than thirty staff and 23 percent in construction. Dependent contractors grew from 498,000 in 2020 to 576,000 in 2024, and platform workers from 661,000 in 2021 to 883,000 in 2023. The government says these non-standard workers remain in blind spots of labour protection.