Wage Gap Between Regular and Temporary Workers Widens

The number of wage earners in Korea has fallen by 113,000, resulting in the biggest wage gap between regular and temporary or contract workers.

According to Statistics Korea on Tuesday, the average monthly salary of wage earners in Korea stood at W2.68 million a month from June to August this year, up W38,000 on-year (US$1=W1,127).

The average monthly salary of regular workers was W3.23 million, up W69,000 on-year, but temporary workers only earned W1.71 million on average per month, down W18,000. That raises the wage gap to a record W1.52 million.

The main reason was an increase in furloughed workers who got paid less or nothing, and they were mostly temporary staff. The number of furloughed workers surged from 369,000 in June of 2019 to 729,000 in June of this year. It also rose on-year in July and August with 685,000 and 846,000.