Are Gig Workers Being Paid Less Than Minimum Wage? The Big Debate

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The Minimum Wage Commission, made up of 27 members—nine each from labor, management and the public interest—will discuss at its third plenary session on the afternoon of the 4th whether to extend minimum-wage coverage to contract workers such as parcel couriers and delivery riders, a move that has prompted both hopes and concerns. Although the Minimum Wage Act contains separate provisions, the Labor Standards Act has classified these workers as business operators rather than as “workers,” effectively excluding them from minimum-wage protections. 

The debate is driven by the perception that platform workers’ average hourly earnings fall below the legal minimum. A labor survey found delivery riders’ hourly pay, excluding expenses, averaged around 7,000 KRW (approximately $5.25); unions say it falls further when waiting time is included. Employers and platform companies dispute the survey methods and calculation criteria, so the conflict is likely to intensify.

Applying a separate minimum wage to these workers could produce several positive effects: it could curb ultra-low-rate dispatches, guarantee a minimum income, reduce excessive long-distance, low-price deliveries, ease price competition among platforms, and absorb part of rising insurance costs. At the same time, it could prompt platforms to raise delivery fees, cut dispatch volumes, deter new riders from entering the market, and create regional pay disparities—issues that lie at the heart of the labor-management clash. 

Although discussions have begun, an immediate per-delivery minimum fare appears unlikely. Past deliberations also failed to reach a conclusion and recommended further surveys and research for the same reasons. Still, the government’s formal decision to put the question of applying minimum-wage protections to platform workers, including delivery riders, on the official agenda represents a notable shift and a step forward. Observers hope the government’s effort will lead to a reasonable outcome that extends benefits to workers currently outside the minimum-wage safety net.{vi14}