How we calculate

This page explains exactly how the Salary Korea calculator works. The rules come from the Korean Labor Standards Act (근로기준법) and Ministry of Employment and Labor interpretations. If your company rules or contract are better than the law, your actual pay may be higher.

1. Ordinary hourly wage (통상시급)

Overtime, night and holiday pay are based on your ordinary hourly wage.

• Hourly pay: the hourly wage you enter
• Monthly pay: monthly base salary ÷ monthly contract hours (default 209 hours)
• Fixed allowances: allowances you receive every month at a fixed amount (position, license, long service) and regular bonuses (yearly amount ÷ 12) are part of the ordinary wage. We add (monthly total ÷ 209) to your hourly rate.

209 hours = 40 working hours + 8 weekly holiday hours per week, multiplied by 4.345 weeks per month (365 ÷ 7 ÷ 12). Since the Supreme Court decision of December 2024 (2020다247190), regular bonuses can be part of the ordinary wage even if paid only to current employees.

2. How hours are split

We split your working time minute by minute. Break times are excluded.

For example, overtime during a night shift gets 150% + 50% = 200%.

Details we apply

• A week runs Monday to Sunday.
• A shift that goes past midnight belongs to the day it started for the 8-hour daily count (Ministry interpretation).
• Holiday work counts only the hours between 0:00 and 24:00 on the holiday. A night shift that starts at 8 pm the evening before a holiday has holiday work only after midnight.
• Holiday hours are not counted toward the 8-hour/40-hour overtime limits.
• An hour is overtime as soon as either the daily 8h or the weekly 40h limit is reached. No hour is counted twice.

3. Weekly holiday pay and paid holidays

• Weekly holiday pay (주휴수당) (Article 55(1), Enforcement Decree Article 30): if you work all scheduled days in a week, you get one paid day off.
  • Hourly pay: that week’s regular hours ÷ 40 × 8 hours (up to 8 hours)
  • No weekly holiday pay for weeks under 15 hours or with an absence (Article 18(3))
  • Monthly pay: already included in the 209-hour salary
• Paid public holidays (Article 55(2)): workplaces with 5 or more employees give public holidays as paid days off.
  • Hourly pay: we add one day (8 hours by default) only for public holidays that fall on your scheduled work days, not on your days off.
  • Monthly pay: included in the salary.
• Annual leave days are paid at your daily contract hours (8 by default).
• Absent days are unpaid for hourly pay. For monthly pay, one day’s pay plus one day of weekly holiday pay is deducted.

4. Companies with fewer than 5 employees

The 50% extra for overtime, night and holiday work, and paid public holidays, do not apply. You still get 100% for all hours worked, and weekly holiday pay still applies (Enforcement Decree Article 7, Table 1).

5. Minimum wage

The calculator warns you if your hourly wage is below that year’s minimum wage.

6. Holiday data

We include all 2026 and 2027 public holidays and substitute holidays, including Labor Day (May 1) and Constitution Day (July 17), which became public holidays in 2026. We update the data when the government adds temporary holidays.

7. What we do not calculate

• Taxes and the 4 social insurances (results are before tax)
• Company-specific allowances (shift allowance, production bonus, etc.). You can enter them under “Other pay”.
• Inclusive wage contracts (포괄임금) and special working-time systems such as flexible or selective working hours

8. If our result differs from your company’s

Recorded working and break times, the pay period closing date and company rules can all change the result. If a difference continues, ask your company’s payroll staff how it was calculated, or call the Ministry of Employment and Labor call center (☎ 1350, foreign languages available).

Please send feedback or error reports through the Contact page.

Last updated: 2026-10-22