One in Three Foreign Workers Earns Over 3 Million Won Per Month

The Financial News – This year, one out of every three foreign residents in Korea earns a monthly average of over 3 million won. Up to 40% of foreigners send money to countries outside of Korea.
According to the '2025 Survey on Immigrant Residency and Employment' released by the Ministry of Data and Statistics on the 18th, as of May this year, there were 1,692,000 foreign residents aged 15 or older in Korea, an increase of 132,000 or 8.4% from the previous year. Of these, 980,000 were men (57.9%) and 713,000 were women (42.1%). By nationality, increases were seen among Vietnamese (15.5%, 36,000 people), Korean Chinese (2.6%, 13,000 people), and Chinese nationals (3.3%, 4,000 people) compared to the previous year.
The economic activity participation rate among foreigners reached 70.0%, up 1.4 percentage points from the previous year, with the economically active population increasing by 114,000. By industry, the mining and manufacturing sector saw an increase of 8.0% (37,000 people), and wholesale, retail, accommodation, and food services rose by 18.4% (35,000 people). In contrast, the construction industry decreased by 0.5% (1,000 people). Among employed foreigners, 58.1% worked between 40 and 50 hours per week, followed by 17.8% working between 50 and 60 hours.
Notably, the average monthly wage for foreign wage workers was distributed as follows: 50.2% earned between 2 to 3 million won, 36.9% earned over 3 million won, 9.0% earned between 1 to 2 million won, and 3.8% earned less than 1 million won. When compared to Korean workers in similar roles, foreign wage workers reported that their working hours were 79.1%, their wages 69.6%, and their workload 79.9% similar to those of Koreans.
Regarding overseas remittances, 30.9% of foreigners sent over 20 million won annually, 19.7% sent between 10 and 15 million won, and 16.7% sent between 5 and 10 million won. The proportion of foreigners sending money to family or relatives living outside of Korea was 39.1%, up 1.6 percentage points from the previous period. The most common remittance frequency was 12 or more times per year, accounting for 29.1%.
Meanwhile, among foreigners with non-professional employment visas, the main reasons for choosing Korea as a work destination were high wages (74.4%), good working conditions (9.3%), and recommendations from friends or relatives with prior work experience in Korea (7.1%).
junjun@fnnews.com Choi Yong-jun Reporter