The first question on the way out of a job: how much unemployment benefit, and for how long? Until now this article answered with figures taken from Work24's "Unemployment benefit – contract workers" page: a cap of 66,000 won and a floor of 26,000. We have since opened the Employment Insurance Act, its Decree and its Rule, and recomputed both. Neither figure was the employee one.
1. What it pays. The daily benefit is capped at 68,100 won (60% of the 113,500 won cap base in Decree art. 68(1)), and for 2026 on a 40-hour week the floor is 66,048 won (minimum wage × 8 hours × 80%). The whole distance between them is 2,052 won.
2. The surprise. "60% of the average wage" actually decides the amount only for wages between 110,080 won and 113,500 won — a band 3,420 won wide. Below it, everyone gets the floor; above it, everyone gets the cap. In 2027 the band disappears and the floor sits 380 won above the cap.
3. A correction. The 66,000 cap, the 26,000 floor and the "5.71 times" spread built on them have all been withdrawn. Everything below is marked as either read from the statute or our own arithmetic.
It follows the Employment Insurance Act as written. The base amount is the average wage on leaving (art. 45(1)); if it exceeds the figure set by Presidential Decree it is cut to that figure — 113,500 won under Decree art. 68(1) (amended 23 December 2025). If instead it falls below daily fixed hours × the minimum wage (the minimum base amount) it is raised to that (art. 45(4)). The daily benefit is 60% of the base amount, or 80% where the minimum base applied (the minimum daily benefit); and if the 60% figure comes out below the minimum daily benefit, the minimum daily benefit is paid (art. 46). Daily fixed hours convert as [weekly fixed hours + paid weekly rest] ÷ 48 × 8 (Rule art. 91-2(1)2) — eight hours for a 40-hour week. Days paid run from 120 to 270 under Table 1, set by insured period and age on the last day (art. 50(1)). The minimum wage is 10,320 won in 2026 and 10,700 won in 2027. Fractions of a won are dropped. Ordinary wage in place of average wage (art. 45(2)), standard remuneration (art. 45(3)), the early-reemployment allowance, cuts for repeat claims and the self-employed scheme are not covered. An estimate — confirm with the Ministry's helpline (1350) or your employment centre.
The Act measures twice
"60% of the average wage" is not the whole rule. The Act builds the amount in two steps: first a base amount, then a rate applied to it to give the daily benefit.
Step 1 · base amount (Act art. 45) — the average wage on leaving. But it is cut to the figure set by Presidential Decree if it exceeds it (para. 5), and raised to daily fixed hours × the minimum wage (the minimum base amount) if it falls below that (para. 4).
Step 2 · daily benefit (Act art. 46) — 60% of the base amount; or 80% where the minimum base applied (art. 46(1)2); and if the 60% figure comes out below that minimum daily benefit, the minimum daily benefit is paid (para. 2).
Those two steps are the point of this article. The cap binds in step one, the floor in step two.
The cap and the floor bind in different places
The cap comes from Decree art. 68(1): a cap base amount of 113,500 won (amended 23 December 2025). It is a lid on the base amount, so as a daily benefit it becomes 60% of that, 68,100 won. These two figures are not used here alone — the daily cap on the employment-retention subsidy is set as the greater of this 68,100 cap and the 66,048 floor below.
The floor comes from the minimum wage. Rule art. 91-2(1)2 converts daily fixed hours as [weekly fixed hours + paid weekly rest] ÷ 48 hours × 8 hours, which for a 40-hour week is (40 + 8) ÷ 48 × 8 = 8 hours. So the 2026 minimum base amount is 8 hours × 10,320 won = 82,560 won, and 80% of that, 66,048 won, is the minimum daily benefit.
| Limit | What it binds | 2026 figure |
|---|---|---|
| Cap | Base amount (Decree art. 68(1)) | 113,500 won → daily 68,100 won |
| Floor | Daily benefit (Act art. 46(2)) | 82,560 won → daily 66,048 won |
| Distance | — | 2,052 won (our arithmetic) |
That difference of place is what produces the odd result later. One binds the figure before the 60% is applied; the other binds it after.
The plain 60% rule governs a band 3,420 won wide
For the 60% to apply as written, the base amount must neither hit the cap nor be lifted to the minimum base. We worked out where that is.
- Lower end — the average wage at which 60% reaches the 66,048 won floor is 110,080 won (66,048 won ÷ 0.6, our arithmetic).
- Upper end — the cap base amount, 113,500 won.
- The distance is 3,420 won, which in monthly pay is about 3.38m won to about 3.48m won (assuming a 92-day quarter, our arithmetic).
Whether the average wage is zero or 110,080 won, the benefit is 66,048 won a day. Above 113,500 won it is 68,100 won however much was earned. The sentence "60% of the average wage" does its work only inside that 3,420 won band.
Fewer hours means a lower floor. The floor rests on daily fixed hours, so a 20-hour week gives four hours a day, a minimum base of 41,280 won and a floor of 33,024 won (2026, our arithmetic). The cap stays at 68,100 won whatever the hours, so for part-time workers the 60% band is far wider.
In 2027 the floor rises 380 won above the cap
The 2027 minimum wage is 10,700 won an hour (decided and announced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on 5 August 2026). The floor tracks it: 8 hours × 10,700 won = 85,600 won, and 80% of that is 68,480 won.
The cap stays at 68,100 won. It moves only when the Decree is amended, so it does not rise with the minimum wage each year. In 2027 the floor therefore sits 380 won above the cap.
This is not a contradiction. As above, the cap binds the base amount and the floor binds the daily benefit. However high the average wage, the base amount stops at 113,500 won and 60% of it is 68,100 won — and Act art. 46(2) then requires the minimum daily benefit to be paid whenever that figure is lower. So in 2027 practically everyone receives 68,480 won.
Leave a job in 2027 and the daily benefit is a single number whatever you earned (40-hour week, our arithmetic). In a year when the cap falls under the floor, how much you were paid changes nothing at all.
How many days
Act art. 50(1) sets the days paid by Table 1, on two axes only: the insured period and your age on the last day of work. Neither your last salary nor the reason for leaving enters here.
| Insured period | Under 50 | 50 or over, or disabled |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1 year | 120 days | 120 days (no difference) |
| 1 to under 3 years | 150 days | 180 days |
| 3 to under 5 years | 180 days | 210 days |
| 5 to under 10 years | 210 days | 240 days |
| 10 years or more | 240 days | 270 days |
Only the under-one-year band ignores age. Passing 50 leaves it at 120 days.
The insured period is the period of employment (Act art. 50(3)) — time employed at the business, not days of contributions. It carries across employers: regaining insured status within three years of losing it adds the earlier period back (para. 4(1)). But if jobseeker's benefit was paid on that earlier loss, the period before it drops out (proviso to the same subparagraph).
Days times daily amount gives the whole span. For 2026 on a 40-hour week the smallest case is 66,048 won × 120 days = 7,925,760 won and the largest is 68,100 won × 270 days = 18,387,000 won — 2.32 times, a difference of 10,461,240 won (our arithmetic). The "5.71 times" this article used to print came from putting the floor at 26,000.
Where this article was wrong
Plainly, then: on the left what this article said, on the right what the statute gives.
| Item | What we printed | Recomputed from the statute |
|---|---|---|
| Daily cap | 66,000 won | 68,100 won |
| Daily floor | 26,000 won | 66,048 won |
| Spread of totals | 5.71 times | 2.32 times |
| Salary at which the cap binds | about 3.34m won | about 3.48m won |
| Qualifying condition | 12 months in 24 | 180 days in 18 months |
How it went wrong. The page we had opened was Work24's "Unemployment benefit – contract workers". Employment insurance splits its members into employees, artists, contract workers and the self-employed, and the money rules for each sit in a different chapter — employees in chapter 4, contract workers in chapter 5-3 (art. 77-6 onwards). Carrying that page's cap and floor into an article about employees was the mistake.
The article did say at the time that it could not confirm the employee floor. It left the widely repeated "80% of the minimum wage × 8 hours" out rather than assert it — and the statute turns out to say exactly that: the minimum base amount in art. 45(4) and the 80% in art. 46(1)2. Leaving the gap was right; it just took a while to fill.
Do I qualify
1. 180 insured days inside an 18-month window
Act art. 40(1)1 — "the insured units of period during the base period total 180 days or more", with para. 2 setting the base period at the 18 months before leaving. It is a total, not a continuous run, and it is 180 days, not 12 months. Spells of 30 days or more without pay through illness or injury extend the window by that much (same paragraph, subpara. 1).
2. The reason for leaving
Act art. 58 does not list the reasons that qualify. It lists the reasons that disqualify: dismissal for serious fault (a sentence of imprisonment, grave damage to the business, prolonged unexcused absence without good reason) and leaving for one's own reasons (to change jobs or start a business, resigning at the employer's suggestion to avoid dismissal for fault, and any other reason not among the just causes prescribed by Ministry Rule).
So resigning is not automatically fatal. Art. 58(2)(c) reads the other way round: a reason on the Ministry's list is not a disqualification. A large change to agreed terms, sexual harassment, or a workplace move that greatly lengthens the commute are among the entries. Whether your reason is on that list is a question for your employment centre — we did not open the list itself (Rule Table 2) this time. It is now set out in full - all thirteen items - in the resignation eligibility checker.
3. Seven waiting days after you file
Act art. 49(1) — the seven days from the day unemployment is reported are waiting days and are not paid. The days paid then start counting from the day after the waiting period ends (art. 50(1)). Daily construction workers have no waiting period and count from the day of the report (proviso to art. 49(1)).
What quietly runs out
Twelve months from the day after you leave
Act art. 48(1) — "paid within 12 months counting from the day after the date of separation, up to the days set by art. 50(1)". It runs from the day after leaving, not from the day you apply, and unused days do not survive the twelve months.
Pregnancy, childbirth, childcare or illness: up to four years
Art. 48(2) — someone unable to work for those reasons who reports it to the employment security office within the benefit period has that time added, up to four years. Receiving industrial-accident medical benefits, or leaving because of an illness needing three months or more of care where that is confirmed, counts as having reported on the first day of treatment (para. 3) — the provision to lean on when the report was missed.
Refusing training or a referred job suspends payment
Act art. 60(1) — refusing a job referred or training directed by the head of the employment security office suspends payment. The good reasons are written in too: work that does not match your ability, a move of home that is not feasible, or pay 20% or more below the usual rate for the same work in the same area, among others (proviso to the same paragraph).
Anything besides the benefit itself
Section 3 of the Act adds employment promotion allowances: the early reemployment allowance (art. 64), the vocational training allowance (art. 65), wide-area job-search costs (art. 66) and relocation costs (art. 67). This article had omitted the early reemployment allowance — its amount and the two thresholds are set out in the early reemployment allowance calculator — it pays when you find work with much of your entitlement unused, which changes the arithmetic between drawing longer and starting sooner.
The amounts and conditions sit in the Decree and in ministerial notices, which we did not open. Check your own case with Work24 or a local employment centre.
Questions this leaves
So is the cap 68,100 or 66,000?
For employees it is 68,100 won — the 113,500 won cap base in Decree art. 68(1) times the 60% in Act art. 46(1)1. The 66,000 was carried over from contract-worker guidance and has been withdrawn.
Where did the 26,000 floor come from?
Contract workers. Their benefit is computed under chapter 5-3 by a different method. The employee floor tracks the minimum wage: 66,048 won for 2026 on a 40-hour week.
The calculator differs from Work24's estimator
Because the average wage is built differently. The Act divides total pay for three months by the days in that period; this calculator approximates with monthly pay × 3 ÷ 92 days. Real quarters run 89 to 92 days, which moves the result a little.
What if the ordinary wage is higher than the average wage?
Act art. 45(2) makes the ordinary wage the base amount in that case. The calculator does not cover it.
Is something changing in 2028?
Act 21473, promulgated 17 March 2026, amends art. 45(1) with effect from 1 January 2028. Its Addendum art. 3 provides that "the computation of jobseeker's benefit for an employee who left before 1 January 2028 shall follow the previous provisions, notwithstanding the amended art. 45(1)" — this article computes the case of leaving before then.
Sources
- Employment Insurance Act — the statute itself — the source for art. 40 (qualifying: 180 insured days in an 18-month base period), art. 45 (base amount: average wage, ordinary wage, cap, minimum base), art. 46 (daily benefit: 60%, 80%, minimum daily benefit), art. 48 (12-month benefit period, four-year extension), art. 49 (seven waiting days), art. 50 and Table 1 (120 to 270 days, insured period), art. 58 (disqualifying reasons), art. 60 (refusing training), arts. 64-67 (promotion allowances) and the Addendum to Act 21473. Korean Law Information Center
- Enforcement Decree of the Act — the text itself — the 113,500 won cap base amount in art. 68(1) (amended 23 December 2025). Korean Law Information Center
- Enforcement Rule of the Act — the text itself — the daily fixed hours formula in art. 91-2(1)2 ([weekly fixed hours + paid rest hours] ÷ 48 × 8). Korean Law Information Center
- Ministry of Employment and Labor — minimum wage decision — 10,320 won for 2026 and 10,700 won for 2027 (5 August 2026), the figures that build the floor. Minimum Wage Commission
- Our arithmetic — the 68,100 won cap, the 66,048 won and 68,480 won floors, the 110,080 won to 113,500 won band and its 3,420 won width, the 2,052 won gap and the 380 won crossover, totals of 7,925,760 won to 18,387,000 won at 2.32 times, the about 3.38m won and about 3.48m won monthly equivalents, and 41,280 won and 33,024 won for a 20-hour week are ours, computed from the provisions above. The calculator was checked against the same arithmetic across 3,888 combinations in both languages.
What to check elsewhere
- The list of just causes for leaving. The list art. 58 delegates to Ministry Rule (Table 2) is one we did not open — ask the Ministry helpline (1350) or your employment centre whether your reason is on it.
- Amounts of the promotion allowances. The other three are opened in their own article - though the two paid at cost need receipts before any figure exists.
- Repeat claims. We could not find a reduction for repeat claimants in the statute — the earlier edition's "up to 50% cut" stays withdrawn.
- The 2028 amendment. Art. 45(1) changes from 1 January 2028 under the Addendum above; a later separation needs the amended text.
Based on the 2026 statute and minimum wage. The cap, floor and days paid are the statute's figures; the totals, ratios, bands and monthly equivalents are our arithmetic. The calculator is an estimate — confirm amounts and eligibility with Work24 or a local employment centre. For the filing steps see the guide to applying, for the payment on leaving the severance calculator, for pay after a new job the net salary calculator and the net salary table, for the minimum wage itself the 2027 minimum wage checker, and for cash during the gap where to park an emergency fund.
