The Four Major Insurances (2026)

Korea’s four social insurances are the National Pension (retirement income), Health Insurance (medical costs, incl. long-term care), Employment Insurance (unemployment and parental-leave benefits) and Industrial Accident Insurance (work injuries). Enrollment is mandatory for employees, with premiums split between worker and employer — except accident insurance, paid fully by the employer.

Premiums apply to taxable pay (after tax-free items such as meal allowance). 2026 employee rates: pension 4.75% (with a base floor/ceiling), health 3.595%, long-term care 13.14% of the health premium, employment 0.9%. The employer matches pension, health and long-term care. For employment insurance the employer pays more — the 0.9% unemployment portion plus an employment-stability and vocational-development levy of 0.25–0.85% by workforce size — and accident insurance (industry average 1.47%) in full. See the 2026 rate table.

Based on taxable pay of 2,800,000 KRW; income tax and local tax are then deducted to reach take-home pay. Try the net salary calculator with your own numbers.

① The pension has a monthly income ceiling (6,590,000) and floor (410,000), so premiums cap out for high earners. ② Long-term care is levied as a percentage of the health premium, not of pay. ③ Coverage can differ for workers under 15 hours/week.

Across all three levels (2M, 3M, 5M KRW), the rates themselves stay the same — only the premium amount scales with taxable pay. The pension does have a base ceiling (6,590,000 KRW), though, so once pay exceeds it the pension premium stops rising while the others keep scaling — the 5M example above is still below that ceiling, but higher pay eventually hits it.

Adding the employer’s share changes the picture further. For pension, health and long-term care the employer pays a matching amount on top; for employment insurance it pays more than the employee (the 0.9% match plus a 0.25–0.85% levy by workforce size). The figures below count only the matching portion, so the real employer cost is higher — at 2M KRW/mo the employer pays at least roughly 174,913 KRW, and at 5M KRW/mo at least about 466,434 KRW, every month. Add accident insurance (industry average 1.47%, fully employer-paid) and the four insurances alone cost the employer nearly double what the employee sees deducted — the payslip figure is not the full labor cost.

A job posting’s "30M KRW/yr" figure is usually the employee’s pre-tax salary and doesn’t include the employer’s share of the four insurances, so the employer’s total cost per hire runs higher than the posted salary by that amount. Knowing this gap can help when negotiating pay during a job change, since it clarifies how the employer’s number is actually structured.