Minimum Wage & Weekly Holiday Pay Calculator

Enter the hourly wage you were promised and the hours you work each week, and this calculator tells you whether that arrangement meets the Korean minimum wage and what you should receive per week and per month once weekly holiday pay is included. It also asks whether you are on probation, whether the work counts as simple labour, and whether you are actually receiving holiday pay, because each of those changes the minimum that applies and the amount you are owed.

The heart of it is weekly holiday pay. The minimum hourly rate itself is a quick search away; the money that actually goes missing is the holiday pay. Set the hourly rate at the minimum and skip the holiday pay, and real earnings per hour fall below the minimum. So the calculator shows your effective hourly rate with holiday pay included, and if you are not receiving it, how much less you get each month.

Anyone starting a part-time job who wants to check the hourly rate in the contract. If you were told the first month would be "a bit less because it's probation", you can find out here whether that reduction is legally possible in your case. People paid by the week or month can divide the figure by their hours to see whether it sits above or below the minimum.

Employers use it too. Leaving out holiday pay for someone who works 15 hours or more a week means paying it all in one go later, so it is safer to cost the position with holiday pay included at hiring. International students and workers under the employment permit system are covered by the same law, so the same standard applies regardless of nationality.

The 2026 minimum wage is ₩10,320 an hour. Under 최저임금법 제6조, any part of an employment contract that sets pay below the minimum is void and treated as an agreement to pay the minimum, signature or no signature. The 2027 minimum was announced on 5 August 2026 at ₩10,700 and, under 제10조 of the same Act, takes effect on 1 January 2027. Until then the 2026 figure applies.

Weekly holiday pay rests on the paid weekly rest day in 근로기준법 제55조제1항. Work 15 hours or more a week and attend every scheduled day, and you receive an extra day's pay. The holiday hours are the weekly hours divided by five, capped at 8 hours even if you work more than 40. A 40-hour week plus 8 holiday hours converts to 209 hours a month, which is the number that appears whenever monthly salaries are discussed; it already includes holiday pay. The minimum wage times 209 hours, ₩2,156,880, is the legal minimum monthly salary for full-time work.

The probation reduction comes from 최저임금법 제5조제2항 and 시행령 제3조. Only someone on a contract of a year or more, within 3 months of starting probation, can be paid as little as the minimum less 10%, which is ₩9,288, and simple labour cannot be reduced at all even during probation. Whether a job is simple labour is decided by the Korean Standard Classification of Occupations, not by how hard it is. The calculation multiplies the hourly wage by weekly hours for the base weekly pay, adds the holiday hours for the full weekly pay, then multiplies the weekly hours including holiday by the number of weeks in a month, rounds to whole hours and multiplies by the hourly wage for the monthly figure.

Take a part-time job at ₩10,320 an hour for 20 hours a week. Base weekly pay is ₩206,400. Because that is above 15 hours, 4 holiday hours worth ₩41,280 are added, so the weekly pay should be ₩247,680. Converted to a month, that is 104 hours and ₩1,073,280. Divided by the hours actually worked, the effective hourly rate with holiday pay is ₩12,384.

If holiday pay is not being paid on the same job, weekly pay stays at ₩206,400 and the month is 87 hours, ₩897,840. That is ₩41,280 a week and ₩175,440 a month less than you are owed. The hourly rate may match the minimum, but you are still being underpaid, and the amount can be claimed later.

The most common is believing that a correct hourly rate is the whole story. From 15 hours a week, holiday pay is an obligation, not an option, and for it to be "included in the hourly rate" the contract has to spell out that calculation. Next is applying the probation reduction to anyone. It is unavailable on contracts shorter than a year, and jobs classified as simple labour, such as delivery, kitchen assistance and shelf stocking, cannot be reduced regardless of contract length.

Treating a few thousand won of difference from the payslip as a calculator error is also common; it is only a difference in how the monthly hours are rounded, and the calculator shows the gap before and after rounding. Adding up hours across several employers to reach holiday pay is another error: it is judged per workplace, so you need 15 hours at one employer for it to apply there. Finally, the calculator leaves out night, overtime and holiday premiums, so anyone working nights or more than 40 hours a week is owed more than the figure shown.