2026 Labor Day Insights: Why Delivery Riders Are Struggling with Low Pay Compared to Corporate Workers

Translation result On Labor Day, May 1, Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party’s candidate for Seoul mayor, met with delivery riders and said, “They must feel deeply deprived. Some employees at certain companies are making headlines by demanding bonuses worth hundreds of millions of KRW (hundreds of thousands of USD), and that’s discouraging.” The comment appeared to be a veiled criticism of the Samsung Electronics union, which has signaled a possible general strike.

Oh made the remarks that morning at a mobile workers’ rest center in Gwangjin District during a meeting with delivery riders. These rest centers give platform workers — food delivery couriers, substitute drivers and quick-service riders — a place to recharge during heat waves or extreme cold. Seoul operates about 20 centers citywide.

Speaking directly to riders who still work on holidays, Oh warned that the income gap between regular employees at large corporations and public institutions and other workers has widened so sharply that a “2-to-98” market is forming. He called the growing disparity a serious problem and pledged, “We will pursue support measures and move quickly to address delivery workers’ safety.”

One rider responded, “They say workers earn 2.5 times their hourly wage on Labor Day, but our delivery fees have fallen so much that we can’t even guarantee 2,500 KRW (about $1.88) per delivery. We do feel a lot of resentment.”

Later, speaking to reporters, Oh said the Samsung union has reportedly demanded about 600 million KRW (approximately $450,000) per person in bonuses — a figure he said clearly falls outside of public consensus. He argued that Samsung’s ability to generate such large profits relies on government and societal support and on small shareholders who funded R&D, and therefore workers should not claim the gains exclusively.

He urged the parties to adopt a constructive negotiating stance to ensure the semiconductor industry retains its international competitiveness over the long term.