The 10th meeting of the Minimum Wage Commission discussing next year's minimum wage level was held at the Government Sejong Office on the 8th.
At the meeting, the worker's side demanded a minimum hourly wage of 10,900 won, which is an 8.7% increase from this year's rate. In response, the employer's side proposed an increase to 10,180 won, which is a 1.5% raise.
As a result, the gap between the labor and management's demands for next year's minimum wage has narrowed to 720 won. This is 110 won narrower than the previous gap of 830 won between the revised proposals from both sides.
So far, labor and management have presented a total of eight revisions to the minimum wage proposals. The initial gap when both sides first presented their minimum wage demands was 1,470 won. It has narrowed from 1,440 won in the first revision to 1,390 won (second revision), 1,270 won (third revision), 1,150 won (fourth revision), 1,010 won (fifth revision), 870 won (sixth revision), and 830 won (seventh revision).
Kwon Soon-won, a professor at Sookmyung Women's University and secretary of the public interest committee, noted before the meeting, 'Today, the public interest committee will spare no effort to ensure that the minimum wage for 2026 can be determined through labor-management consensus for the first time in 17 years.' Since the implementation of the minimum wage system in 1988, the minimum wage has been set by labor-management agreement only seven times.