Most people know Korea's unemployment benefit only as the jobseeker's benefit. But art. 37(2) of the Employment Insurance Act splits it into the jobseeker's benefit and job-promotion allowances, and lists four of the latter: early reemployment, training, wide-area job-search cost and relocation cost. The first has its own article; this one opens the other three in the original.
1. Not one of the three carries its amount in the Act. All three are sent to a ministry notice, and for two of them the notice points on to the Public Officials Travel Expenses Decree.
2. Only one is a fixed figure. The training allowance, 10,320 won a day - the other two are paid at cost.
3. Three places carry a number. The 25 kilometres for the job-search cost, the lodging ceilings of 100,000 won, 80,000 won and 70,000 won, and the 5 tonnes and 7.5 tonnes in the relocation table.
It follows articles 65 to 67 of the Employment Insurance Act, its Decree and Rule, and the ministry notices, as written. Act art. 37(2) lists four job-promotion allowances: early reemployment, training, wide-area job-search cost and relocation cost. The training allowance is paid for days spent on training the employment security office directed you to take, and only for days that are also days the jobseeker's benefit covers (Decree art. 88(1)), at the rate the notice fixes: 10,320 won a day (ministry notice 2025-104, in force 1 January 2026), paid on the same day as the benefit. It is not paid for a period in which the benefit is suspended (Act art. 65(2)), and anything the course pays you for fares or meals is deducted. The wide-area job-search cost requires 25 kilometres or more from your home to the workplace you visit (Rule art. 111(1)) and that the employer does not cover it; it is split into fares (actual cost at the middle class) and lodging (nights actually stayed × the notice figure) — and a water route counts as twice the actual distance (Decree art. 89(1)2). The lodging notice (2025-109) points to class 2 of the domestic scale in Table 2 of the Public Officials Travel Expenses Decree, capped at 100,000 won in Seoul, 80,000 in a metropolitan city and 70,000 elsewhere, per night. The relocation cost is paid where the office accepts that the move was necessary, the employer does not pay it, and — for a move to take up work — the contract runs for a year or more (Decree art. 90(1)). Its notice (2025-110) points to Table 5 of the same Decree: the whole cost up to 5 tonnes, and above that the cost of the first 5 tonnes plus 50 per cent of the cost of the 5 to 7.5 tonne band, with 7.5 tonnes as the ceiling. Rule art. 113(2) says the amount goes "by the distance of the move", but that table has no distance in it. Both are claimed within 14 days of the trip ending or the move. Actual costs are settled on receipts, so the figures you enter here are examples. The self-employed scheme, artists, contract workers and the restrictions in Act art. 68 are not covered. An estimate — confirm with your employment centre (1350).
Where the amount is actually written
For all three the Act says only what the payment is for; it never says how much. The Act sends it to the Decree, the Decree to the Rule or to a notice, and for the job-search cost and the relocation cost the notice points to a different statute again.
The early reemployment allowance was the exception - Decree art. 85(1) spells out the formula itself: the daily benefit times one half of the unpaid days. The other three have no such line.
Training allowance - 10,320 won a day
Act art. 65(1) covers training the head of the employment security office directed you to take - not a course you found for yourself. Decree art. 88(1) adds a second condition: the day must be a training day and a day the jobseeker's benefit covers.
The amount goes to Decree art. 88(2), "the sum the Minister decides and announces, having regard to fares, meals and the like", and the training allowance notice (2025-104, in force 1 January 2026) sets it at 10,320 won a day. Twenty days is 206,400 won; thirty is 309,600 won.
10,320 won is also the 2026 minimum hourly wage. A whole day of this allowance equals one hour of the minimum wage. The notice gives no reason for the match - the observation is ours, not something the notice says.
Two limits follow. Act art. 65(2) stops the allowance for any period in which the jobseeker's benefit itself is suspended, and the proviso to the notice deducts whatever a public-body course already pays you for fares or meals. Payment falls on the same day as the benefit (Decree art. 88(3)).
Wide-area job-search cost - 25 kilometres, and water counts double
Act art. 66(1) covers job-hunting over a wide area on the office's referral. Decree art. 89(1) adds two conditions - the employer must not be covering the cost, and the distance must reach the figure set by Ministry Rule. That figure is the 25 kilometres in Rule art. 111(1).
The same subparagraph carries one more line: "the distance of a water route shall be deemed twice the actual distance." So 24 km by land falls short while 13 km by sea counts as 26 km and clears the line - a provision that reads as though written for someone travelling from an island to the mainland for an interview.
Lodging is paid at cost - but the ceiling moves by region
Rule art. 111 splits the amount into fares and lodging. Fares are the actual cost at the middle class of each mode - standard carriage on rail, class 2 by ship. Lodging multiplies the notice figure by the number of nights actually stayed.
That notice (2025-109) points to class 2 of the domestic scale in Table 2 of the Public Officials Travel Expenses Decree, where lodging is paid at cost up to a ceiling: 100,000 won in Seoul, 80,000 won in a metropolitan city and 70,000 won elsewhere, per night. Seoul and everywhere else differ by 30,000 won a night.
And Rule art. 111(5) - whatever the employer pays is deducted. If they cover it all, nothing is left.
Relocation cost - "by distance", except the table has none
Act art. 67(1) covers moving house to take up work or directed training. Decree art. 90(1) sets three conditions: the office must accept that the move was necessary, the employer must not be paying the removal, and a move to take up work needs a contract of a year or more.
This is where it turns strange. Rule art. 113(2) says the amount goes "by the distance of the move, as the Minister announces" - but open the table that notice (2025-110) points to, Table 5 of the Travel Expenses Decree, and there is no distance in it. The domestic scale is split by the weight of the load.
| Load | Paid |
|---|---|
| 5 tonnes or less | the actual cost of the removal, ladder truck or lift included |
| over 5 tonnes (capped at 7.5 tonnes) | cost of the first 5 tonnes + 50 per cent of the cost of the 5 tonnes to 7.5 tonnes band |
If the first 5 tonnes costs 800,000 won and the band above it 400,000 won, then 6 tonnes and 9 tonnes both pay 1,000,000 won - because anything past 7.5 tonnes is not counted at all.
All three shrink by whatever the employer pays
Both the job-search cost (Rule art. 111(5)) and the relocation cost (art. 113(3)) deduct what the employer has paid or agreed to pay. The Decree conditions say as much: the cost must be "not paid by the employer, or paid at less than this allowance" - these two top up only the part the employer left uncovered.
The claim window is 14 days
The job-search cost is claimed within 14 days of the day the trip ends (Rule art. 112(2)) and the relocation cost within 14 days of the move (art. 114(2)). Where a natural disaster or another unavoidable cause intervenes, the window is seven days from the day that cause ends. The training allowance has no claim form - you hand in a certificate of attendance on the unemployment recognition day (art. 110).
A relocation claim must carry the employer's confirmation and receipts showing the removal details - the route, the distance and the cost.
Questions that remain
Does training alone pay? No - Decree art. 88(1) needs the day to be a training day and a day the jobseeker's benefit covers. It is an allowance added on top for someone already drawing the benefit who takes directed training.
Is the 25 kilometres one way? Decree art. 89(1)2 says "from the recipient's residence to the workplace visited" - it says nothing about a round trip. The fares, though, are the actual cost of the journey made.
What if the load is over 7.5 tonnes? Table 5 fixes it: "7.5 tonnes shall be the upper limit." The excess does not enter the calculation.
How is "actual cost" fixed? By the receipts. The fares, room rate and removal cost you type into the calculator are examples; what the provisions fix is what gets multiplied and what gets subtracted.
Sources
Korean Law Information Center, Employment Insurance Act - the statute - source for art. 37(2) (the four job-promotion allowances), art. 65 (directed training, the suspension bar, amount to the Decree), art. 66, art. 67 (including dependent relatives living with you) and art. 68.
Enforcement Decree of the same Act - the statute - source for art. 88 (benefit-covered days, amount by notice, paid with the benefit), art. 89 (employer not covering it, the Rule's distance, water counts double) and art. 90 (the move accepted as necessary, employer not paying, a contract of a year or more).
Enforcement Rule of the same Act - the statute - source for art. 110 (certificate of attendance), art. 111 (25 kilometres, fares and lodging, middle class at cost, nights stayed, employer deduction), arts. 112(2) and 114(2) (the 14 days window) and art. 113 (the usual route, "by the distance of the move", employer deduction).
Three Ministry of Employment and Labour notices - the training allowance notice (2025-104, 10,320 won a day), the lodging notice (2025-109) and the relocation notice (2025-110) - all three in force from 1 January 2026.
Public Officials Travel Expenses Decree - the statute - source for Table 2, the domestic travel scale (amended 30 June 2026; class 2 lodging capped at 100,000 won, 80,000 won and 70,000 won) and Table 5, the removal scale (amended 31 January 2017; 5 tonnes, 7.5 tonnes and 50 per cent).
Calculator check. 4,686 combinations were run against the statutory arithmetic in both languages - labels as well as amounts.
Where to check further
What counts as actual cost. Which receipts are accepted, and how "middle class" is applied in practice, sit outside the provisions - ask your employment centre.
"The move accepted as necessary." The test in Decree art. 90(1)1 follows standards the Minister sets, and does not appear in the text.
Restrictions. Act art. 68 withholds job-promotion allowances from anyone who obtained or sought benefit by fraud, and Decree art. 91 sets when that is relaxed - not built into the calculator.
The self-employed, artists and gig workers. Decree art. 93-2 applies arts. 88 to 92 to insured self-employed persons - written up in their own article. For artists and gig workers these allowances are not borrowed at all.
Based on the provisions and notices in force in 2026. The conditions and figures are as written; the arithmetic and totals are ours. The calculator is an estimate, and actual cost is settled on receipts - confirm with your employment centre or the ministry helpline (1350).
