Suwon Special City to Raise Minimum Living Wage by 10% to 12,630 Won Next Year
Suwon Special City's 'living wage' for next year has been determined at 12,630 won per hour, a 10% increase from this year. This represents 118% of the minimum wage (10,700 won) announced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor for next year.
The Suwon City Labor-Management-Government Council held a regular meeting at the City Hall situation room on the 16th and resolved to raise next year's living wage to 12,630 won. Converting this to a monthly salary, it amounts to 2,639,670 won (based on 209 working hours per month).
The Labor-Management-Government Council determined the living wage by considering overall economic conditions including the consumer price inflation rate, minimum wage increase rate, average worker wage increase rate, and Suwon City's fiscal conditions.
The living wage, introduced by Suwon City in 2014, goes one step beyond the minimum wage and refers to a wage level that enables workers to maintain a 'dignified life.' The living wage applies to approximately 2,000 workers including those employed by Suwon City and its affiliated institutions, workers at organizations and companies that have received administrative delegations from Suwon City or provide construction and service projects to Suwon City, and workers directly employed by subcontractors.
Suwon City also plans to implement fairness allowances for fixed-term workers with contract periods of less than one year directly employed by the public sector, in line with the government's policy direction of 'improving treatment of non-regular workers in the public sector.' These allowances are designed to compensate for employment instability.
The compensation rate ranges from 8.5% to 10%, with higher rates applied for shorter contract periods. This addresses the issue where short-term contract workers with less than one-year contracts are excluded from severance pay eligibility due to their contract length.
The fairness allowance will be paid on a differentiated basis ranging from a minimum of 380,000 won to a maximum of 2,480,000 won depending on the length of service. For workers with less than one month of service, the amount will be calculated based on the number of days worked. The allowance applies to workers retiring on or after January 1, 2027.
Seo Jong-chang, vice chair of the Suwon City Labor-Management-Government Council who presided over the meeting, stated, "The living wage is an important matter for workers' livelihood stability and revitalizing the local economy," and added, "We comprehensively reviewed various factors to determine next year's living wage." He further urged, "Let us pool our wisdom to create a society where the value of labor is respected."