Report income while receiving Korea’s job-seeking allowance
Starting a short assignment or daily job during the National Employment Support System can change the allowance for a particular payment cycle.
This calculator helps approved Type I participants prepare a cycle-by-cycle income record and estimate the remaining cash allowance under Korean 2026 rules.
It is useful for people returning to work and family members helping organize the paperwork.
It distinguishes a full or reduced payment, an income suspension, a payment deemed made through program income, and a case needing review.
Download the TXT record and take the underlying evidence to your caseworker.
A full estimate does not remove the obligation to report income, and the calculator does not submit an official claim.
Who can use this estimate?
Approved Type I, standard payments
Use the standard monthly schedule, starting at your actual cycle number and ending no later than cycle 6.
Every date must be within 2026.
You may enter just one cycle or compare several.
Separate decisions
Type II participation expenses, initial eligibility, split or extended payments, and employment-success incentives are outside this calculation.
Incomplete activities, other sanctions and separate termination events require caseworker review.
Initial household income and asset screening is different from a participant’s income report for a payment cycle.
Do not add a spouse’s or parent’s income to your own earned income here, or substitute an annual average used for an earlier eligibility decision.
Use the amounts attributed to the relevant cycle and confirmed for inclusion by the center.
Inputs and documents to prepare
- Cycle dates and number: copy the period in your notice.
A cycle need not be a calendar month.
The add-cycle button proposes editable dates; it does not establish your official schedule.
- Earned income: use the confirmed included amount supported by pay statements and daily-work records.
A bank deposit alone does not settle gross pay, withholding or tax-exempt items.
Combine all relevant employers for that cycle.
- Business income: enter the amount confirmed for inclusion, rather than automatically treating revenue as income or subtracting guessed expenses.
Ask about attribution when contract, work and payment dates differ.
Do not enter the same receipt in two cycles.
- Other included income: this can cover confirmed interest, dividends and regular public-pension income.
Disclose uncertain receipts to the caseworker and uncheck the confirmation box while their treatment remains unresolved.
- Program participation income: identify income arising from employment-support or job-search-support programs separately.
Have work-experience or training allowances classified by your center.
Do not enter the same amount again in another income field.
Reporting all receipts and deciding what enters the calculation are separate tasks.
This tool does not automatically classify tax-exempt income, one-off payments or deductible business expenses.
Amounts are whole KRW, with a maximum of KRW 100 million per income field.
Keep the original receipts even after saving the summary.
2026 allowance, dependants and income threshold
The 2026 basic allowance is KRW 600,000 per month for up to six standard months.
Each approved dependant adds KRW 100,000, capped at KRW 400,000 in total.
Work24 lists minors aged 18 or younger, older people aged 70 or above, and people with severe disabilities.
Use the approved count and do not count one person twice when conditions overlap.
2026 monthly allowance and income threshold by approved dependant count, KRW| Approved dependants | Monthly KRW | Threshold KRW |
|---|
| 0 | 600,000 | 1,539,143 |
| 1 | 700,000 | 1,539,143 |
| 2 | 800,000 | 1,600,000 |
| 3 | 900,000 | 1,800,000 |
| 4 or more | 1,000,000 | 2,000,000 |
The threshold is the larger of twice the monthly allowance and 60% of the one-person standard median income.
For 2026, KRW 2,564,238 × 60% = KRW 1,539,142.8, displayed here as the rounded planning reference 1,539,143.
The API evidence did not establish administrative won rounding.
When the median reference applies and either total income or income excluding the program component is within +/-1 KRW of it, the calculator holds the decision for center review.
When twice the allowance is larger, that exact integer threshold applies.
How the income adjustment works
Monthly allowance M = 600,000 + 100,000 × min(approved dependants, 4)
Threshold B = max(2 × M, 1,539,143)
Reported income S = earned + business + other + program income
Non-program included income N = S − program income
- If S is no greater than M, the estimate is M.
- If M < S ≤ B, the estimate is min(M, B − S).
Income exceeding the basic allowance can still leave a full payment where sufficient threshold headroom remains.
- If S > B but N ≤ B, cash is zero and the allowance is deemed paid through program income.
This adds no income suspension.
- If N > B, cash is zero and one income suspension is added.
Check whether the cumulative count reaches three.
A reduced or suspended cycle is consumed; its unpaid balance is not automatically carried into another month.
Article 21 treats those cycles as paid for the relevant payment period.
Allocate income according to the actual evidence and the center’s determination, not by moving a receipt between dates to obtain a preferred result.
Worked examples and boundary cases
No dependants, KRW 1 million earnings
M is 600,000 and B is 1,539,143.
Subtracting included income of 1,000,000 gives an estimated payment of 539,143 KRW.
This assumes confirmed attribution and activities, without an employment termination event.
Two dependants, KRW 1.6 million income
M is 800,000 and B is 1,600,000.
At exactly 1,600,000 of income, the reduced cash estimate is zero, but the threshold has not been exceeded.
Non-program income of 1,600,001 creates an income suspension.
With no dependants and income of 900,000, the difference to the threshold exceeds M, so payment remains capped at 600,000.
With two dependants and income of 1,599,999, the estimate is 1 KRW.
The full-payment boundary differs from the zero-payment and suspension boundary.
Read the status as well as the amount, then compare the inputs with the eventual payment notice.
Program income and the three-suspension rule
With no dependant addition, non-program income of 1,000,000 plus program income of 600,000 produces total income of 1,600,000.
The total exceeds the threshold, but the non-program amount does not.
Cash is therefore zero under the program-payment assumption, without adding an income suspension.
By comparison, non-program income of 1,600,000 itself exceeds the threshold even if program income is also present.
Start with the correct history
Two earlier income suspensions plus another suspension reach the three-event threshold in Article 21(5).
The calculator flags support termination and shows subsequent cycles as ended.
Do not count a deemed program payment, a reduced zero amount, or an activity-related sanction as an income suspension.
Activity sanctions require separate review.
An unresolved earlier cycle also leaves the later suspension history uncertain.
The calculator holds later payments for review rather than inventing a zero or assuming continuing eligibility.
Its payment total includes calculated cycles only.
Always retain the pending-cycle count when using the total for a household budget.
Starting employment during a cycle
Article 29 and Enforcement Rule Article 20 address termination of employment support.
The general job threshold is at least 30 hours per week, with exceptions for daily-worker jobs and specified program jobs.
A work date alone does not establish termination; starting a profit-making business also needs the relevant facts confirmed.
Do not substitute the separate employment-success incentive criteria.
Article 20(7) and Enforcement Rule Article 14 require review of planning or activities up to an employment event within the cycle.
Whether the date is the first, middle or last day, this calculator leaves that cycle pending and does not multiply the allowance by a fraction of days.
Only when the center confirms that the entered date ends support are cycles starting after that date shown as zero.
If termination is unconfirmed, later affected cycles also remain pending.
If short-hour work is confirmed to allow continued participation, clear the termination-event date and report that work income in the relevant cycles.
Bring the contract, hours and business records so the caseworker can distinguish an income reduction from termination.
Step-by-step use and practical situations
- Choose approved Type I and the standard schedule, then enter the actual first cycle and earlier income-suspension count.
- Enter notice dates, approved dependants and included income by category.
If relevant, enter employment or business commencement and whether termination is confirmed.
- Review the confirmation checkbox for attribution, exclusions, family additions and required activities.
For the first cycle, this includes the initial employment activity plan.
- Read the status, cash estimate and suspension count, add necessary cycles, and save the TXT record for reporting with supporting documents.
Several daily or short assignments
Collect each payer’s records before combining income in a cycle.
The field holds a total, so retain the individual work dates, payers and receipt dates separately.
A downloaded amount summary is not proof of earnings.
Programs and employment overlap
Prepare the program payment notice and employment contract separately.
The program-income exception does not automatically resolve termination or missed-activity issues.
Ask the caseworker to review pending cycles before relying on the allowance total.
Frequently asked questions
Can I skip reporting income below KRW 600,000?
No.
A full allowance estimate does not remove reporting duties.
Disclose even small daily-work receipts and have inclusion or exclusion confirmed.
Should I enter the bank deposit amount?
Not automatically.
Confirm withholding, tax-exempt items, business expenses and cycle attribution before choosing the included amount.
Do five dependants add KRW 500,000?
No.
The addition is capped at KRW 400,000.
Count approved qualifying people rather than all household members, without duplication.
Does zero cash always mean an income suspension?
No.
A reduced zero at the threshold, a deemed program payment, an income suspension and ended support have different meanings.
Can I prorate the employment cycle by days?
This tool does not do so.
The center must review activities and the payment decision for that cycle, which remains pending here.
Why are later cycles pending after an unresolved row?
The earlier row may affect the three-suspension limit.
Resolve the classification and history first to establish the later status.
How do I account for earlier cycles not shown?
Use the first-cycle number and earlier income-suspension count.
The count cannot exceed the number of earlier cycles, and the final row cannot exceed cycle 6.
Does saving TXT complete my Work24 report?
No.
It creates a local review record and sends no income information to the center.
Follow the official Work24 or employment-center filing procedure.
Official evidence and rule dates
Sources checked September 19, 2026 (2026-09-19).
The current Act and Enforcement Decree take effect 2024-02-09; the Enforcement Rule takes effect 2024-02-13.
The operating notice, 2026-35, effective 2026-05-28, ID 2100000280036, was also checked through the national law API.
Initial-screening annual averages and business adjustment ratios were not automatically applied to cycle income.
Match the dates and evidence before reporting
Results are conditional planning amounts, not a payment award.
Cycle dates, dependant additions, income classification, program treatment and earlier suspension history can each change the outcome.
Leave uncertain rows unchecked instead of entering zero to produce a full allowance estimate.
Do not extend the 2026 assumptions to 2027 or a split schedule without checking the new rules.
Calculate and save the cycle income record