$500 idea · Pattern break · South Korea · Edition 007
Korea caps agency fees at 1% from the worker and 30% from the employer.
「국내유료직업소개요금 등 고시」 제2호 sets both numbers, and the gap between them is 30:1. The entire 간병·파출 trade bills the side the law squeezes. Worse, 제3호 pins the 회원제 alternative that trade actually runs on to 4% of the minimum wage — a figure that moves with the wage floor, not with the worker's pay. At the 2026 floor the same placement is worth ₩668,633 a month under one clause of that notice and ₩172,550 under the other.
In South Korea, the people who clean houses, mind building sites and sit with patients in hospital are almost never hired directly. A small licensed office in the neighbourhood holds a list of them, takes the phone call, and sends someone. These offices are regulated: to open one you must register with your district, and the labour ministry publishes the maximum you may charge — separately for the person hiring and for the person working. Custom in the trade is to take the money from the worker, a slice off each day's pay. This edition is about what the ministry's own notice says about that, and what it is worth to an operator who reads it.
Starting capital for this edition is ₩681,192 [$500 USD at 1,362.3834, the xe.com mid-market rate quoted 6 November 2026 19:06 UTC]. The target is ₩6,811,917 a month [about $5,000 USD], or ₩81,743,004 a year.
The consensus reading of a Korean 인력사무소 is that it is a commission business on labour: hold a book of day workers, take a cut of what they earn. That is exactly what the trade does, and it is the half the law forbids.
Start with the statute, because it is unusually blunt. 「직업안정법」 제19조제3항: "제1항에 따른 등록을 하고 유료직업소개사업을 하는 자는 고용노동부장관이 결정·고시한 요금 외의 금품을 받아서는 아니 된다" ["a registered fee-charging placement business shall not receive money or goods other than the fee determined and published by the Minister of Employment and Labour"]. Not a ceiling with room beneath it for extras — an exhaustive list. Anything outside the notice is 과태료 of up to ₩10,000,000 under 제50조제1항제1호, and 시행규칙 별표 2 escalates it: one month's suspension, then two, then cancellation.
Now the notice. 「국내유료직업소개요금 등 고시」 (고용노동부고시 제2017-22호, in force 1 July 2017, unamended since) is four numbered items long. 제2호가목: "고용기간이 3개월 미만인 경우: 고용기간 중 지급하기로 한 임금의 100분의 30 이하(건설일용의 경우에는 100분의 10 이하)" ["where the employment period is under three months: not more than 30 per cent of the wages agreed to be paid during it, or 10 per cent for construction day labour"]. 제2호나목, for the job seeker: "고용기간 중 지급받기로 한 임금의 100분의 1 이하" ["not more than 1 per cent"].
Thirty and one. The side with the money may lawfully be charged 30× what the side selling labour may be charged, and the trade has spent a decade running the ratio the other way round. The ministry has said so in its own words: a 2022 보도설명자료 answering a newspaper investigation into "30% 중간착취" restated the caps as "구직자로부터는 본인이 지급받기로 한 임금의 1%를" and "구인자로부터는 고용기간 중 지급하기로 한 임금의 30%(건설 일용 10%)를 한도로", and added that breaching them draws the ₩10,000,000 과태료.
Then 제3호, which is where the trade actually lives, and where the notice quietly stops indexing to anything useful: "파출부, 간병인 등 일용근로자를 회원제로 소개·운영하는 경우에는 소개요금에 갈음하여 구인자 및 구직자로부터 최저임금법 제10조제1항에 따라 고용노동부장관이 고시한 시간급 최저임금을 월 209시간을 기준으로 월 단위로 환산한 금액의 4% 이내의 범위에서 각각 회비를 징수할 수 있다. 이 경우 회원으로 가입한 일용근로자에게는 월회비 외에 추가 소개요금을 징수할 수 없다" ["where housekeepers, caregivers and other day workers are placed on a membership basis, in place of a placement fee a membership subscription may be collected from the employer and from the job seeker, each within 4 per cent of the hourly minimum wage published by the Minister under 최저임금법 제10조제1항 converted to a monthly amount on 209 hours; a day worker who has joined as a member may not be charged any additional placement fee beyond the monthly subscription"].
Read the base. The 회비 is 4% of the minimum wage, not of what the worker earns. The 소개요금 is a percentage of the actual wage. One clause is pinned to the floor; the other floats with the job. At the 2026 minimum of ₩10,320 an hour the monthly conversion is ₩2,156,880, so the 회비 ceiling is ₩86,275.20 from each side — ₩172,550.40 in total, for a member, for a month, forever. The 소개요금 ceiling on the same person placed at the same wage is 31% of ₩2,156,880, or ₩668,632.80. The two clauses cross at a monthly wage of ₩556,614, and every won above it is a won the membership model leaves on the floor.
So the non-consensus position is not that Korean placement agencies overcharge. It is that they have been charging the wrong party under the wrong clause, and that the compliant structure — nothing from the worker, the statutory share from the employer — is simultaneously the more profitable one and the strongest recruiting offer available in a market where the binding constraint is not customers but carers. A 간병인 whose agency takes the customary tenth of a ₩2,156,880 month loses ₩215,688. The lawful maximum from that worker is ₩21,569. An operator who posts zero gives up ₩21,569 a head and buys the supply side of a national shortage.
The evidence
12 findingsThe fee list is exhaustive, not a ceiling with room underneath
"제1항에 따른 등록을 하고 유료직업소개사업을 하는 자는 고용노동부장관이 결정·고시한 요금 외의 금품을 받아서는 아니 된다". The verb is 받아서는 아니 된다 — may not receive — and the object is 금품, money or goods, not "fees". A consulting charge, an administration charge, a deposit against a no-show: each is 금품 outside the notice. 제19조제4항 requires the Minister to put any change through the 고용정책심의회 first, which is why the number has not moved since 2017.
Thirty per cent from the employer, 1% from the worker
제2호가목1): "고용기간이 3개월 미만인 경우: 고용기간 중 지급하기로 한 임금의 100분의 30 이하(건설일용의 경우에는 100분의 10 이하)". 가목2) applies the same 30% to three months' wages where the engagement runs three months or longer — a total, not a rate per month. 나목: "고용기간 중 지급받기로 한 임금의 100분의 1 이하" from the job seeker, with a transitional 100분의 3 that expired on 30 June 2019 and is still printed in the text. 제1호 bars any fee at all before a contract is signed: "구인자와 구직자 간에 근로계약이 체결된 이후에".
The membership ceiling is indexed to the minimum wage, not to the job
"최저임금법 제10조제1항에 따라 고용노동부장관이 고시한 시간급 최저임금을 월 209시간을 기준으로 월 단위로 환산한 금액의 4% 이내의 범위에서 각각 회비를 징수할 수 있다", and then the trap: "회원으로 가입한 일용근로자에게는 월회비 외에 추가 소개요금을 징수할 수 없다". Choosing 회원제 for a worker forecloses the 소개요금 for that worker. The base is the statutory floor, so the ceiling rises only when the minimum wage does — at ₩10,320 an hour for 2026 it is ₩86,275.20 per side per month and nothing the worker earns above the floor moves it.
The caregiver clause names the worker as the collection agent, and the cap still binds
가목3): "구직자가 간병인, 파출부, 건설일용 근로자인 경우에는 위 소개요금의 한도 내에서 직업소개사업자와 구직자 간에 [별지 서식]의 건설일용 및 간병·파출 소개요금 대리수령 동의서에서 합의한 소개요금을 구직자가 사업주로부터 대리 수령하여 직업소개사업자에게 전달할 수 있다" ["where the job seeker is a caregiver, housekeeper or construction day labourer, within the above limits the fee agreed in the prescribed consent form may be collected by the job seeker from the employer and passed to the agency"]. This is the clause the daily deduction hides behind, and it does not convert the employer's 30% into the worker's money — it is 위 소개요금의 한도 내에서, within the limits above, and it requires a signed form. 제4호 fixes the base as 근로기준법 제2조제1항제5호 wages, with board and lodging addable up to ₩50,000 a month.
Over-charging is ₩10,000,000, then suspension, then the licence
제50조제1항: "다음 각 호의 어느 하나에 해당하는 자에게는 1천만원 이하의 과태료를 부과한다", and 제1호 is "제19조제3항을 위반하여 고용노동부장관이 고시한 요금 외의 금품을 받은 자". 별표 2 adds the licence consequence for the same conduct: 1차 위반 사업정지 1개월, 2차 사업정지 2개월, 3차 등록취소, reached through 법 제36조제1항제3호 (이 법 또는 이 법에 따른 명령을 위반한 경우). Taking from the worker is not a grey area that regulators tolerate; it is a numbered row in the sanctions table.
The gate is one qualification and 10㎡ of floor
시행규칙 제18조: "영 제21조제5항에서 '고용노동부령이 정하는 시설'이란 전용면적 10제곱미터 이상의 사무실을 말한다". 시행령 제21조제1항 restricts who may register as a natural person to a closed list: "「국가기술자격법」에 의한 직업상담사 1급 또는 2급의 국가기술자격이 있는 자", a 공인노무사, a 사회복지사, a teacher or public servant of two years, a union officer of two years, an HR officer of two years at a 300-employee firm, or anyone with "직업상담·직업지도·직업훈련 기타 직업소개와 관련이 있는 상담업무에 2년 이상 종사한 경력이 있는 자". A company needs 납입자본금 5천만원; a person needs none.
₩30,000 to file, fifteen days to decide, and a ₩10,000,000 bond
The registration form prints 처리기간 15일 and the fee "신규(국내 유료직업소개사업으로 한정한다) : 3만원", matching 시행규칙 제45조. The wall is 제17조제3항: the applicant must produce "보증보험이나 공제의 가입 또는 예치금의 금융기관 예치를 증명하는 서류" before the certificate is issued, and 시행령 제34조의2 sets it at "국내유료직업소개사업자는 사업소별로 1천만원". Deposited outright that is 14.68× this edition's capital; bought as a surety bond the premium is a fraction of it, and no published premium was found on this run.
The ministry has already stated the ratio, answering a story about the opposite
Responding to a 한국일보 investigation into "30% 중간착취", the ministry restated the law rather than the practice: "구직자로부터는 본인이 지급받기로 한 임금의 1%를", "구인자로부터는 고용기간 중 지급하기로 한 임금의 30%(건설 일용 10%)를 한도로 직업소개요금을 받을 수 있으며", and "위반 시 동법 제50조에 따라 1천만원 이하의 과태료를 부과하고 있음", under the heading "구직자의 부당한 임금손실이 발생하지 않도록 예방 및 지도·감독을 강화하겠습니다". The gap between the ministry's sentence and the trade's invoice is the whole of this edition.
16,288 offices nationally, and one district sanctioned 29 of them in six months
The ministry's annual dataset on data.go.kr, described as "직업안정법 제19조에 따라 지방자치단체에 등록된 국내 유료직업소개사업소 현황", shows 16,288 rows at the 31 October 2025 reference date; a newer file dated 2026. 8. 10. is published only as a spreadsheet and was not parsed. 강남구 reports "2026년 9월 현재 강남구에 등록된 유료직업소개사업소는 357개소로 전국 지자체 중 가장 많다", together with 199 inspected in the first half of 2026 and 29 행정처분 — a 14.6% sanction rate among those inspected, in the richest district in the country.
The index under the membership clause: ₩10,320 an hour
The 2026 minimum wage, all industries, in force 1 January to 31 December 2026, with the ministry's own monthly equivalent of ₩2,156,880 on 209 hours — the exact conversion 제3호 of the fee notice adopts. Everything the membership model can earn is therefore a derivative of a number set once a year by the 최저임금위원회 for an entirely different purpose. The 소개요금 side is indexed to nothing: it is a share of whatever the job actually pays.
The demand side has a date on it, and it is 2027
The health ministry's own 2026 policy summary carries the line "요양병원 중증환자 간병비 본인부담률" moving "현재(2025년 12월 기준) 100% → (2026년) 30% 내외(2027년~)". The pilot behind it began 1 April 2024 with "총 85억원" across "10개 지역 20개 요양병원" and "1천200명의 환자", paying "월평균 59만4천원∼76만6천원" per patient and funding "병원당 17∼25명의 간병인 인건비와 운영비", with conversion to a full scheme stated as "2027년에 본사업으로 전환하겠다". Hospital caregiving paid for by the state is caregiving hired by the hospital, not placed by an agency.
Thirty placements on one clause, fifty-five on the other
$5,000/mo × 1,362.3834 = ₩6,811,917; ₩81,743,004 a year; $500 = ₩681,192. Statutory monthly equivalent = 10,320 × 209 = ₩2,156,880. 회비 ceiling = 0.04 × 2,156,880 = ₩86,275.20 each side, ₩172,550.40 together. 소개요금 ceiling = (0.30 + 0.01) × 2,156,880 = ₩668,632.80; ratio 3.875×; the clauses cross at 172,550.40 ÷ 0.31 = ₩556,614 of monthly wage. Base case posts 15% to the employer and 0% to the worker — half the lawful employer cap — so revenue per placement-month is 0.15 × 2,156,880 = ₩323,532. Overhead ₩850,000/mo (office 450,000, utilities and telecoms 120,000, accounting 130,000, 보증보험 50,000, consumables and travel 100,000). Break-even 850,000 ÷ 323,532 = 2.63 placements. After 종합소득세 and 10% 지방소득세 on a sole proprietor with a single ₩1,500,000 기본공제 and no other income: 30 placements nets ₩6,909,874/mo [$5,072]; 40 nets ₩8,899,596 [$6,532]; 10 nets ₩2,127,867 [$1,562]. The same 30-placement book run on 회원제 bills 30 × 172,550.40 = ₩5,176,512 and nets ₩3,745,313 [$2,749]. The after-tax target needs 29.5 placements on 소개요금 against 55.3 members on 회비 — 1.875× the book for the same money.
The ladder
From $500 to $5,000 a month · ₩679,365 → ₩6,793,650시행령 제21조제1항 is a closed list and most of it is ordinary biography: 직업상담사 2급, 공인노무사, 사회복지사, two years as a teacher or public servant, two years as a union officer, two years in HR at a firm of 300, or two years in any counselling work related to placement. If one of those is already true of you, the entry gate is paperwork. If none is, 직업상담사 2급 is the one to go and get, because it is the only item on the list that can be acquired on purpose.
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Check which of the eight doors you already hold
시행령 제21조제1항 is a closed list and most of it is ordinary biography: 직업상담사 2급, 공인노무사, 사회복지사, two years as a teacher or public servant, two years as a union officer, two years in HR at a firm of 300, or two years in any counselling work related to placement. If one of those is already true of you, the entry gate is paperwork. If none is, 직업상담사 2급 is the one to go and get, because it is the only item on the list that can be acquired on purpose.
8 doors · 자본금 0 for a natural person -
Solve the bond before you sign a lease
시행령 제34조의2 wants ₩10,000,000 per office, and the district will not hand over the certificate without proof of it. Deposited, that is 14.68 times this edition's capital and the route is closed. Bought as a 보증보험 or a 공제, the premium is a fraction — and this page does not know what fraction, because none is published. Get three quotes before anything else; it is the only line that can end the route on day one.
₩10,000,000 bond · premium not verified -
Register, on 10㎡, for ₩30,000
시행규칙 제18조 asks for 전용면적 10제곱미터 이상의 사무실 and nothing else physical. 별지 제14호서식 prints 처리기간 15일 and a ₩30,000 fee. 법 제19조제2항 bars a second office unless each has its own qualified counsellor, so the first office is the business for a long time. Register in the district whose workers you will actually place; it is the same office that will inspect you.
10㎡ · ₩30,000 · 15일 -
Post zero to the worker, in writing, in the advertisement
The lawful maximum from a job seeker is 1% of the wage — ₩21,569 a month on the statutory equivalent. It is not worth collecting and it is worth a great deal to give up loudly. The custom you are competing against takes a tenth, ₩215,688 off the same month. In a trade where the shortage is workers and not work, the only durable recruiting advantage available to a new office is the one the law already wrote for you.
1% lawful · 0% posted · 10× the custom -
Charge the employer, and charge under 제2호 rather than 제3호
The two clauses are mutually exclusive per worker: enrol someone as a 회원 and you may never charge a 소개요금 for them again. 제3호 is indexed to the minimum wage and tops out at ₩172,550.40 a month from both sides together; 제2호 is a share of the real wage and reaches ₩668,632.80 on the same placement. Below a monthly wage of ₩556,614 the membership clause is the better of the two. Above it — which is to say, in every full-time placement in Korea — it is not.
제2호 31% vs 제3호 ₩172,550 -
Price at half the cap and let the arithmetic do the rest
The base case here posts 15% to the employer, exactly half of what 제2호가목1) permits, because a new office undercutting on the only side it may charge is still a 15-point business. Thirty placement-months at ₩323,532 is ₩9,705,960 gross. Break-even against ₩850,000 of overhead arrives at 2.63 placements, which is the useful number: this business is profitable almost immediately and reaches $5,000 slowly.
30 × ₩323,532 − ₩850,000 -
Count engagements, not people, and watch the three-month line
제2호가목2) caps an engagement of three months or more at 30% of three months' wages in total. A worker who settles permanently with one employer stops paying you after that ceiling is reached; a worker who takes a new fortnight's engagement every fortnight generates a fresh lawful fee each time. Day work is therefore the structural fit, and a long placement is a commission that quietly expires.
3개월 · 30% of 3 months, once -
Know the date the demand side changes
The health ministry has published 2027 as the year 요양병원 간병 moves to a funded scheme, with the severe-patient co-payment falling from 100% to about 30%. State-funded hospital caregiving is hired by the hospital. Build the book on in-home and short-engagement work, which no published scheme covers, and treat ward placement as revenue with a stated expiry.
100% → 30% · 2027
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