How to use
Enter your hourly wage and your contracted weekly hours (the weekly hours set in your contract, as a 4-week average), then choose whether you worked every scheduled day that week. You see your weekly holiday pay, weekly holiday hours, monthly average holiday pay and weekly pay (pay for contracted hours + weekly holiday pay). The hourly wage field starts at the 2027 minimum wage of KRW 10,700, and a warning appears if you enter a lower rate. If you do not qualify for weekly holiday pay, the calculator tells you why. The 2027 minimum wage applies from January 1, 2027 (Ministry of Employment and Labor Notice No. 2026-60). If the relevant laws change before then, the calculation method may change too, so check the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s guidance again in early 2027.
Who qualifies for weekly holiday pay
Weekly holiday pay (juhyu sudang) is what you are paid for your weekly paid day off. If you work every scheduled day in a week, you get at least one paid day off per week on average (Labor Standards Act, Article 55(1); Enforcement Decree, Article 30(1)). You must meet both of these conditions:
- Contracted weekly hours averaging 15 or more over 4 weeks — below 15 hours, the weekly holiday rule does not apply (Labor Standards Act, Article 18(3)).
- Working every scheduled day that week — there is no weekly holiday pay for a week with an absence.
Contracted hours are the working hours agreed between the worker and the employer (Labor Standards Act, Article 2(1)8). What counts is the hours set in the contract, not the hours you actually worked.
Formula and examples
Weekly holiday pay = (contracted weekly hours ÷ 40) × 8 hours × hourly wage
Overtime beyond 40 hours is left out, so weekly holiday pay covers 8 hours at most (Ministry of Employment and Labor administrative interpretation, Labor Standards Policy Division-5943). These examples use the 2027 minimum wage of KRW 10,700 an hour.
| Contracted weekly hours | Weekly holiday hours | Weekly holiday pay | Weekly pay (contracted + holiday) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 hours | 8 hours | KRW 85,600 | KRW 513,600 |
| 25 hours | 5 hours | KRW 53,500 | KRW 321,000 |
| 20 hours | 4 hours | KRW 42,800 | KRW 256,800 |
| 15 hours | 3 hours | KRW 32,100 | KRW 192,600 |
| 14 hours | None | KRW 0 | KRW 149,800 |
If you are contracted for 40 hours and work 10 hours of overtime, your weekly holiday pay stays at 8 hours’ worth, KRW 85,600. Premiums for overtime, night and holiday work, taxes and social insurance are not part of this calculation.
This formula assumes a comparable full-time worker works 40 hours over 5 days a week. It can also apply when you work 3 days a week if that comparable worker works 5 days. The amount may differ if the comparable worker has a different number of contracted workdays. For short-hour workers, daily contracted hours for paid holiday wages are the contracted hours over 4 weeks divided by the comparable full-time worker’s total contracted workdays in that period (Enforcement Decree of the Labor Standards Act, Appendix 2).
Monthly average holiday pay
A month has 365 ÷ 7 ÷ 12 = about 4.345 weeks on average. So the monthly average holiday pay is estimated as weekly holiday pay × 365 ÷ 7 ÷ 12. At the 2027 minimum wage, that is KRW 371,952 for 40 hours a week and KRW 185,976 for 20 hours a week. The real amount depends on how many weeks fall in the month and whether you worked every scheduled day, so treat it as a guide.
Weekly holiday pay in 2026
Until December 31, 2026, the 2026 minimum wage of KRW 10,320 an hour applies. To calculate weekly holiday pay at the 2026 rate, use the South Korea Weekly Holiday Pay Calculator 2026.