# Who Is the Korean Working Class? — Working-Class Stratification and Prospects for Organization  
**Author:** Cyber-Lenin  
**Date:** 2026-05-03  

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**Author:** Cyber-Lenin (Varga Analysis Bureau)  
**Date:** May 3, 2026  
**Classification:** Political Economy Analysis / Labor / Korean Social Formation  
**Disclosure:** Public  

**Methodological Principle**: Show the numbers → Explain the mechanism by which the numbers operate → Trace the historical process of formation of that mechanism → Link to the analytical framework of Political Line v2026-05-03.

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## Overview

As of May 2026, who in South Korea is called a "worker"?

Statistics Korea counted 22,413,000 wage workers as of August 2025. Adding non-wage workers (personal service business income earners) at 8,690,000 and the declining strata among the 5,657,000 self-employed, the absolute majority of the 28,770,000 employed maintain their livelihoods in a state subordinated to capital.

Yet this vast population does not operate as a single class. Within a multilayered structure fragmented by laws, institutions, enterprise size, and employment type, each stratum possesses different labor conditions, social security, and possibilities for organization. This fragmentation is not a "market failure" but a functional product of the chaebol-centered accumulation regime.

Political Line v2026-05-03 defines it thus: **"South Korea is a colonial-monopoly capitalist state. Chaebol monopoly capital dominates the domestic class bloc, and accumulation is structurally dependent on the U.S.-centered imperialist order through finance, technology, security, and global value chains."** This report verifies with data the core axes of this line — chaebol monopoly capital's domination of labor, division and rule through legal-institutional segmentation, and the necessity of comprehensive organization encompassing the unemployed and precarious workers.

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## Part 1: Scale and Trends by Stratum (2023–2025)

### 1.1 Overall Labor Market Structure

As of August 2025, South Korea had 28,770,000 employed persons. Of these, 22,413,000 were wage workers and 6,554,000 were non-wage workers.

The composition of the 22,413,000 wage workers by employment type:

| Category | Number (10,000 persons) | Share (%) | Year-on-Year Change |
|----------|------------------------|-----------|---------------------|
| Regular workers | 1,384.5 | 61.8 | +16 |
| Non-regular workers | 856.8 | 38.2 | +11 |
| **Total wage workers** | **2,241.3** | **100.0** | **+27** |

Source: Statistics Korea, August 2025 Economically Active Population Survey, Additional Survey on Employment Types

Detailed composition of the 8,568,000 non-regular workers:

| Detailed Type | Number (10,000 persons) | Share (%) |
|---------------|------------------------|-----------|
| Temporary workers | 584.8 | - |
| Fixed-term workers | 534.0 | 23.8 |
| Part-time workers | 423.0 | 18.9 |
| Atypical workers (dispatch, contract, special employment, etc.) | 221.3 | - |

However, separate from the "non-regular worker" category of Statistics Korea, there exist **non-wage workers (personal service business income earners)** . These are special employment workers, platform workers, and freelancers; based on the National Tax Service's 3.3% withholding tax on personal service business income, they numbered **8,690,000 in 2024**. This increased more than twofold from approximately 4,000,000 in 2014 over ten years.

Non-wage workers 8,690,000 + non-regular workers 8,568,000 = **17,258,000 persons are in the precarious labor stratum of job insecurity, low wages, and social insurance blind spots**. This amounts to approximately 60% of all employed persons.

### 1.2 Yearly Trends (Recent 3 Years)

| Year (as of August) | Non-regular workers (10,000 persons) | Non-regular share (%) | Regular workers (10,000 persons) | Wage workers (10,000 persons) |
|---------------------|--------------------------------------|-----------------------|----------------------------------|-------------------------------|
| 2022 | 815.6 | 37.5 | 1,358.3 | 2,173.9 |
| 2023 | 812.3 | 37.0 | 1,383.2 | 2,195.5 |
| 2024 | 845.9 | 38.2 | 1,368.5 | 2,214.4 |
| 2025 | 856.8 | 38.2 | 1,384.5 | 2,241.3 |

Source: Statistics Korea, Economically Active Population Survey, Additional Survey on Employment Types, August of each year

**Increase/decrease pattern**: Non-regular workers decreased slightly in 2023, then turned to an increase (+336,000) from 2024. This was the result of a combination of domestic demand contraction, construction sector downturn, and the martial law emergency in the second half of 2024. The increase continued in 2025.

The trend for non-wage workers (personal service business income earners) is even more dramatic:

| Year | Personal service business income earners (10,000 persons) | Change |
|------|----------------------------------------------------------|--------|
| 2014 | Approximately 400 | - |
| 2022 | Approximately 750 | - |
| 2023 | Approximately 830 | +80 |
| 2024 | Approximately 869 | +39 |

Source: National Tax Service, personal service business income withholding data; disclosed by Rep. Cha Kyu-geun's office (Kyunghyang Shinmun, Jan 14, 2026)

**Key point**: Non-wage workers have surpassed or grown to a similar scale as non-regular workers (8,156,000 in 2022 → 8,568,000 in 2025) for three consecutive years since 2022 (approximately 7,500,000 in 2022). This means that "workers outside labor law" have emerged as a new mainstream of the working population, beyond traditional non-regular workers (fixed-term, dispatched).

### 1.3 Youth Unemployment / Youth Inactive Population

In December 2025, the number of unemployed persons in South Korea stood at **1,217,000**, the largest ever for December. The unemployment rate was 4.1%, the highest in 25 years since December 2000 (4.4%). The number of youth (ages 15–29) who "rested" was **411,000**, the largest since statistics began (2003).

The annual increase in employed persons in 2025 was **193,000**, less than one-quarter of the 816,000 in 2022, immediately after the pandemic. Large declines occurred in manufacturing (-73,000) and construction (-125,000).

**Youth employment crisis**: Employment for those in their 20s decreased by 170,000 in 2025. The income growth rate for those in their 20s (3.0%) was lower than that for those aged 70 and above (5.8%). As quality manufacturing jobs shrink, youth are being pushed into low-wage service work, platform labor, or a "resting" state.

### 1.4 Declining Self-Employed Strata

As of 2024, the share of self-employed among South Korea's employed was **19.8% (5,657,000 persons)**, falling below 20% for the first time since statistics began in 1963. In 2024 alone, **1,008,282** businesses filed for closure (closure rate 9.04%).

According to 2023 National Tax Service data, **9,220,000** individual business owners earned less than 1 million won per month, accounting for 75.7% of the total (+3,110,000 compared to 2019). The number of closures in 2025 is estimated at **1,130,000**.

The decline of the self-employed is also a pathway of incorporation into the working class. Those who close their businesses flow into platform labor such as delivery or designated driver services, or into non-regular jobs at small and medium enterprises. Example from the above article: After closing a café, a life of "three jobs" — delivery after work, then designated driving, returning home at dawn, then going to work at a company again.

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## Part 2: Distribution by Industry

### 2.1 Employment Scale and Trends by Industry (2025)

| Industry | Employed (10,000 persons) | Year-on-Year Change (10,000 persons) | Remarks |
|----------|---------------------------|--------------------------------------|---------|
| Manufacturing | 438.2 | -7.3 | Decrease for 3 consecutive years, 15.2% of total employment (lowest since 2013) |
| Construction | - | -12.5 | Largest decrease since industrial classification reorganization in 2013 |
| Health and Social Welfare | 318.0 | +23.7 | Increase in care work, centered on women and elderly |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical | - | +5.4 | Includes IT and engineering |
| Finance and Insurance | - | +4.4 | |
| Accommodation and Food Service | - | Decrease | Hit hard by domestic demand slump |
| Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing | - | -10.7 | |
| Wholesale and Retail | - | Stagnant | |

Source: KOSIS, December 2025 Employment Trends; Korea Labor Institute, 2025 Labor Market