The average daily wage for 129 production job categories rose 3.6% from a year earlier.
The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises announced on the 27th the results of the "Second-half 2025 wage survey by job category in small and medium-sized manufacturing," conducted on 1,500 small and medium-sized manufacturers with sales of at least 3 billion won and at least 10 full-time employees.
According to the survey, as of August this year, the average daily wage for production workers at small and medium-sized manufacturers was 114,682 won, up 3.6% from the June survey last year and 8.4% from the second half of 2023.
By job category, the daily wage for parts assemblers was 105,323 won, up 7.0% from a year earlier. Shift leaders were tallied at 139,712 won (up 3.2%), and elementary labor workers at 90,694 won (up 0.7%).
Wage gaps among job categories were also identified. "Metallurgical materials quality managers" were the highest at 178,350 won, while "footwear manufacturing machine operators" were the lowest at 83,388 won.
KBIZ said the labor unit prices calculated in this survey will be applied as the standard labor cost unit prices for national contracts starting Jan. 1 next year. Detailed results by job category and explanatory materials can be found on the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises website.