Korea unemployment benefit

The rule is 60% of your average daily wage over your last three months. That sounds proportional to what you earned. It mostly is not.

In 2026 the daily payment cannot go below ₩66,048 or above ₩68,100. Those two numbers are ₩2,052 apart.

So someone who earned ₩2.5m a month gets ₩66,048 a day, and someone who earned ₩5m gets ₩68,100. Double the salary, 3% more benefit.

Which means the number that actually moves your total is how many days you get, not how much you earned. 120 days versus 270 days is more than double.

The ceiling is set in the enforcement decree: the wage used for the calculation is capped at ₩113,500 a day. Take 60% of that and you get ₩68,100.

The floor is tied to the minimum wage. Eight hours at 2026’s minimum of ₩10,320 an hour, then 80% of that, gives ₩66,048.

The band where 60% actually applies is narrow — roughly ₩3.3m to ₩3.5m a month. Below it you are on the floor, above it on the ceiling.

The two move on different schedules. The ceiling changes when the decree is amended; the floor changes every January with the minimum wage. What matters is the date you left the job, not the date you claim.

Two conditions do most of the work. You need 180 insured days within the 18 months before you left, and you must not have quit voluntarily.

The 180 days are counted across jobs, so short contracts can add up. But they are insured working days, not calendar days — a part-week schedule accrues them more slowly than you would expect.

On leaving voluntarily, the law treats benefit as being for people who lost work, not those who chose to stop. There are recognised exceptions — unpaid wages, the workplace moving so far that commuting becomes unreasonable, harassment, and others. The employment centre decides, working from the reason your employer recorded.

That recorded reason matters more than anything you say afterwards. Ask what your employer is filing before you sign anything.

Losing the job and losing the right to stay are separate questions, and the second one moves faster.

Your employer must report your departure within 15 days. Article 19 of the Immigration Act puts that duty on them, not on you — so immigration will know regardless of what you do.

Changing employer needs permission first. Article 21 requires prior approval from the Ministry of Justice to change or add a workplace. Certain skilled categories may instead report within 15 days of the change. Which one applies depends on your status — check before you accept an offer, not after.

Employment insurance coverage itself depends on your visa. Workers under the Act on Foreign Workers’ Employment are enrolled, but the unemployment-benefit chapters apply only where they have applied for them. For other foreign workers the Act applies in whole or in part according to status and permitted activity. Your payslip deductions will show whether employment insurance was actually being paid.

None of that is decided by this calculator. It tells you the amount if you are eligible; the employment centre and immigration decide whether you are.

The first seven days are unpaid. They are a waiting period, and your day count starts after them.

The whole entitlement expires one year after you left. If you are due 270 days and claim late, the unclaimed days are simply lost. Claim as soon as you leave.

Average wage is not your monthly pay divided by 30. It is three months of pay divided by the number of days in those three months, which runs 89 to 92. This calculator uses 91; for anyone on the floor or the ceiling it makes no difference at all.

Overtime does not raise the floor. The floor uses contracted hours, capped at eight, however long you actually worked. Overtime pay does feed into your average wage, so it can help on that side.