Unpaid Wage Offender List Analysis — By Industry, Region and Disclosure Round

As of 2026-10-04

As of 2026-10-01, 631 employers are currently listed on the Ministry of Employment and Labor unpaid-wage offender list. Construction accounts for 219 (34.7%), and construction and manufacturing together make up 59%. By region, Seoul has the most (188).

631Employers currently listed
2026년 1차Latest disclosure round
59%Construction + manufacturing

By industry

Category	Employers	Share
Construction	219	34.7%
Manufacturing	153	24.2%
Wholesale and retail trade	60	9.5%
Accommodation and food services	46	7.3%
Information and communication	39	6.2%
Business facilities management, support and rental services	29	4.6%
Professional, scientific and technical services	25	4%
Arts, sports and recreation	11	1.7%
Membership organizations, repair and other personal services	11	1.7%
Health and social work	9	1.4%
Transportation and storage	9	1.4%
Education	7	1.1%
Real estate	6	1%
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	4	0.6%
Mining	1	0.2%
Financial and insurance activities	1	0.2%
Water supply, sewage, waste management and remediation	1	0.2%

By province

Category	Employers	Share
Seoul	188	29.8%
Gyeonggi	173	27.4%
Busan	40	6.3%
Gyeongnam	36	5.7%
Gyeongbuk	34	5.4%
Incheon	28	4.4%
Chungnam	24	3.8%
Gwangju	23	3.6%
Jeonnam	16	2.5%
Ulsan	14	2.2%
Jeonbuk	13	2.1%
Gangwon	10	1.6%
Jeju	10	1.6%
Daegu	9	1.4%
Chungbuk	6	1%
Daejeon	5	0.8%
Sejong	2	0.3%

By disclosure round

Category	Employers	Share
2026년 1차	187	29.6%
2025년 1차	50	7.9%
2024년 2차	92	14.6%
2024년 1차	184	29.2%
2023년 2차	118	18.7%

Method and limitations

We counted the employers currently on the Ministry of Employment and Labor list published under Article 43-2 of the Labor Standards Act. Employers removed after the three-year disclosure period are not included.
Employer names and representatives are not shown on this page. To check a specific employer, use the Ministry of Employment and Labor website or the unpaid-wage employer search in the ToKorea app.
Only employers convicted two or more times in three years with unpaid wages of 30 million KRW or more within one year are listed, so this is a subset of all unpaid-wage cases. The list does not say whether foreigners were employed.

Download CSV: wage-defaulters.csv

The figures and CSV files on this page are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). You may quote and reuse them freely — in articles, research, or AI answers — as long as you credit ToKorea and the reference date. CC BY 4.0

Cite as: ToKorea, "Unpaid Wage Offender List Analysis — By Industry, Region and Disclosure Round", 2026-10-04, https://tokorea.teamcat.app/data/wage-defaulters/en

Frequently asked questions

How do I check whether a company is on the unpaid-wage list?

Search by company name in the unpaid-wage offender list on the Ministry of Employment and Labor website or in the ToKorea app. This page only shows totals by industry and region.

Can foreigners report unpaid wages?

Yes. Regardless of visa status, you can file a petition with the Ministry of Employment and Labor (1350). Since November 6, 2025, labor inspectors handling unpaid-wage reports are exempt from the duty to notify immigration about a worker’s status.

Which industry has the most unpaid-wage offenders?

On the current list, Construction (34.7%) has the most, and construction and manufacturing together make up 59%.

ToKorea compiled these figures from Korean public data for reference. They may differ from the timing of the original disclosures or registrations; confirm individual cases with the relevant institution.