Start with your construction retirement mutual aid statement
The Korean construction retirement mutual aid scheme supports daily and temporary workers who move between construction sites.
Participating employers report work records and pay contributions to the Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association (CWMA).
A worker or qualifying survivor can apply when a statutory claim event occurs.
Recent pay or average wages alone cannot establish the balance.
This calculator helps workers preparing for retirement and family members assisting them compare current credited days, statement principal, statement interest and claim conditions.
It does not access an account or retrieve records.
Enter your own statement figures, record suspected discrepancies and prepare questions for CWMA.
Korean rules for 2026
This is a Korea-specific review using KRW and rules verified on September 15, 2026.
Ordinary severance pay uses a different wage and service-period framework.
Do not treat this result as a guarantee that mutual aid and employer severance will both be paid or automatically added together.
Review ordinary severance separately for the relevant employment relationship.
Claim conditions: 252 days, age 60 and age 65
Article 14 of the Act on the Employment Improvement, etc. of Construction Workers connects contribution months with retirement, age and death.
Article 18 of its Enforcement Rule treats 21 contribution days as one month, making 12 months equal to 21 × 12 = 252 days.
This is a contribution-day conversion, not a calendar year since the first day of work.
At least 252 days
Check permanent retirement from construction or reaching age 60.
A worker under 60 who continues construction work does not meet a claim event merely by reaching 252 days.
Fewer than 252 days
Reaching age 65 provides a claim route.
The age-60 condition does not apply to this contribution band.
Death
A survivor claim can be considered even below 252 days.
CWMA must still establish the eligible survivor category, statutory priority and any allocation between equal-rank recipients.
Missing or inconsistent records
With zero credited days, first check the contribution record.
Zero days with positive principal or verified interest is treated as inconsistent input and calculations are withheld.
What each input means
Statement date and age
Use the actual date to which the CWMA statement relates and your age at review.
Use attained age, not the traditional Korean counting-age convention.
An old statement may omit recent contributions, so refresh it before applying.
Current unpaid credited days
Exclude historical days already covered by a payout according to the current CWMA record.
Calendar attendance, paid days on a payslip and CWMA credited days are not necessarily identical.
Ask CWMA about unclear fields instead of manually reconstructing eligibility from lifetime totals.
Principal and interest
Enter principal without interest, followed by verified interest alone.
Entering the full expected payout as principal and adding interest again would double-count it.
If interest is unknown, clear the confirmation box; principal remains visible but the total is withheld.
Previous payouts and claim progress
Previous payments from other statements are recorded for context only.
They are never subtracted again from a current unpaid balance.
Confirm that post-payout days and funds are separate, and indicate whether this statement is already being claimed or has been paid.
Balance and day-shortfall formulas
Statement-based reference
Current statement principal + verified statement interest = balance before settlement
Article 13 of the Enforcement Decree excludes surcharges from the contributed principal used for retirement mutual aid and adds interest.
The full employer contribution is not necessarily the personal principal.
Contribution amounts and payment dates can differ across sites, so this calculator does not multiply all historical days by a single current daily rate.
Distance to the standard threshold
Days remaining = max(0, 252 − current unpaid credited days)
This shows the distance to the standard contribution threshold.
It is not an additional requirement under the age-65 or death exception.
Suspected missing days are not added until the official record is corrected, and future work does not guarantee future credit.
Article 14 of the Enforcement Decree uses annual reference rates and monthly compounding, taking payment dates and the claim date into account.
This tool does not have the complete individual payment history and rate series, so it does not invent future interest.
Even statement interest can differ from the final amount at claim time.
Tax, outstanding loans and other settlement items are excluded; check the actual bank-transfer amount separately.
Step-by-step review before applying
- Retrieve credited days and expected-payment details from CWMA and record the statement date.
Make sure figures from different screens use the same scope and separate principal from interest.
- Replace the illustrative defaults with your figures and confirm the actual current unpaid statement.
Checking the box while retaining unrelated examples does not verify your personal entitlement.
- Enter attained age and your situation.
Distinguish finishing work at one site from permanently leaving construction.
- Review previous payouts and claim progress.
For an application already submitted, check progress or requests for evidence before starting another claim.
- Complete the site-and-period checks and download the CSV.
Use it alongside original work records and CWMA statements when asking about corrections and application evidence.
Worked examples and threshold boundaries
These are illustrative statement figures, not promises of a uniform contribution rate or return.
The comparisons assume a verified current unpaid statement and no pending claim.
Claim-condition examples by credited days and attained age| Credited days | Age | Situation | Review |
|---|
| 251 | 60 | Still working | 1 day short of 252 |
| 252 | 60 | Still working | Age conditions met from inputs |
| 251 | 65 | Age exception | No extra day required |
| 252 | 59 | Other-industry employment | Verify retirement evidence |
Keep current funds separate from past payments
Principal of KRW 1,562,400 plus verified interest of KRW 50,000 gives a pre-settlement reference of KRW 1,612,400.
A previous payout of KRW 1,000,000 from another statement does not reduce this current balance again, provided CWMA confirmed separate post-payout accrual.
If the figures instead include historical payments, the tool asks for a current unpaid statement and does not guess a subtraction.
Compare the same site and period
A difference between attendance and credited days does not by itself establish an employer omission.
Align the statement date, reporting and payment status, site participation and the scope of the work records.
Put the site and period in the memo and retain attendance or payment records for your inquiry.
Do not offset different discrepancies
A site with 20 worked days and 18 recorded days has 2 suspected missing days.
Another site with 10 worked days and 12 recorded days has a reverse discrepancy of 2 days.
The calculator keeps both totals instead of cancelling them to zero.
A worker with 251 current credited days is still assessed using 251 days even if 2 additional days are suspected missing.
Avoid entering the same date across overlapping rows or sites.
This tool does not retrieve daily attendance and cannot automatically detect overlapping periods.
Each row allows up to 366 days and there can be up to 20 rows.
Split long histories into non-overlapping periods and use the totals as review quantities, not confirmed entitlement.
Evidence for retirement and survivor claims
Article 19 of the Enforcement Rule requires supporting evidence appropriate to the event.
Selecting the evidence checkbox does not submit documents or complete an official review.
Ask CWMA whether your situation matches the selected reason and which records are required.
- For starting a business, prepare a business registration copy or equivalent evidence.
For employment outside construction, prepare employment confirmation from that employer.
- For permanent employment without a fixed term, prepare evidence of that arrangement.
For inability to work due to illness or injury, check the required employer confirmation, medical certificate or medical opinion.
- For an age-based claim, prepare identification or other proof of age.
For another permanent departure, ask how to document inability or intention not to work in construction again.
- For death, document both the death and qualifying survivor status.
The statutory categories and order include spouses, children and parents, and equal-rank allocation can matter.
Being a child of the worker does not automatically entitle someone to the entire balance.
Practical situations and limits
Preparing for retirement
Review age and day boundaries, then prepare the facts and supporting records.
Do not fix a retirement date or household budget solely because a day threshold has been reached.
Helping a parent
Separate principal and interest and check whether old payments are mixed into the figures.
Any authority to act for the worker and related authorization documents follow CWMA procedures separately.
Finishing at one site
Moving to another site or taking a temporary break can differ from leaving the construction industry.
Unemployment benefits use separate rules and cannot be decided from this mutual aid review.
An application already exists
Check the progress of that claim and any request for additional evidence.
After a payment is completed, obtain a new statement; do not interpret the old one as funds available for another claim.
This tool does not calculate daily-rate increases, special retirement mutual aid, taxes, loan settlement, limitation periods or payment dates.
It does not promise a transfer date or final net payment.
Resolve unclear re-enrollment, post-payout accrual or historical record questions with CWMA before relying on the inputs.
Frequently asked questions
Can I claim as soon as I reach 252 days?
Under age 60, a qualifying event such as permanent retirement and the relevant evidence must also be checked.
Days alone do not replace a claim event.
I have 251 days and have reached age 65. Do I need another day?
The age-65 route allows review below 252 days.
The displayed standard shortfall does not override this exception.
Should I enter zero when interest is unknown?
Clear the interest-confirmation box.
Principal remains available while the total is withheld, so unknown interest is not misrepresented as confirmed zero.
Why are previous payouts not subtracted?
Current unpaid balances may already exclude old payments.
Use verified post-payout records; the calculator does not reconstruct a balance by subtracting money from lifetime totals.
Can survivors apply with fewer credited days?
Death is a separate claim event from the 252-day threshold.
CWMA must verify survivor categories and priority; this tool does not allocate survivor shares.
May I add suspected missing days immediately?
Wait until CWMA confirms a corrected record.
Different periods and reporting delays can explain discrepancies, so compare original work records and statements first.
Is the CSV an official application?
It is a personal checklist of inputs and unresolved items.
It does not replace the official payment claim or supporting evidence, and no identity number or bank account is required here.
Is principal plus interest the amount paid into my account?
It is a reference before tax, outstanding loans and other settlement.
Confirm final interest and payment details with CWMA at claim time.
Official sources and effective dates
Verified 2026-09-15 using the current texts returned by the Korean National Law Information OPEN API.
Act MST 234693 is effective 2022-02-18; Decree MST 277395 is effective 2025-10-01; Enforcement Rule MST 265105 is effective 2024-08-28.
The verification date, statutory effective date and personal statement date have different meanings.
Recheck ages, days and events whenever legislation or CWMA guidance changes.
Individual entitlement and payment follow the official records and review.
Review your records and prepare the next step
Enter your current unpaid statement and assess days, age and claim events together.
Keep the CSV with the original records so discrepancies and questions are not overlooked.
Then use CWMA services to check contributions, ask about corrections or follow the relevant claim procedure.
Start the retirement mutual aid review