Check Type I eligibility before applying
After retirement, business closure or a career break, having little personal income does not by itself establish eligibility for Korea's National Employment Support System.
A spouse's income, the assessed household property and recent employment history can change the application route.
This calculator helps applicants and family members organize those facts before an official application.
What the result explains
- Separate household-income, applicant-income and assessed-property checks
- The requirements-review route or a possible selection route
- Reference release dates for known waiting periods after other support ends
- A potential monthly allowance and six-payment total if all payment conditions are met
The result is an application-planning estimate under South Korean rules for 2026.
An employment center must determine official eligibility, recognized household composition and payment entitlement.
Selection routes can remain unsuccessful even when the displayed basic conditions are satisfied because funding and priority assessments also apply.
2026 scope, age and military-service extension
This page uses the 2026 application rules and official sources checked on 2026-11-07.
Current operational guidance generally covers jobseekers aged 15–69.
The youth range is normally 15–34, with a recognized mandatory military-service extension of up to three years, reaching at most age 37.
Military history does not automatically extend every applicant's youth status to 37.
Statutory age and operational exceptions
Article 6(1)(2) of the Act states a basic upper age of 64.
Coverage for ages 65–69 must be read together with Article 6(3), Article 2 and Annex 1 of the operating notice, and current Work24 guidance.
The calculator does not describe 69 as the basic age written in that statutory clause.
Enter recognized service months
Enter 0–36 months of service recognized for this purpose.
The calculator estimates youth status until the date obtained by adding those months to the 35th birthday.
Residual service days and birthday boundaries require confirmation with the employment center.
For an application in 2027, recheck that year's income standard and program rules.
A waiting-period date shown in the following year is a scheduling reference; it is not a 2027 eligibility determination.
Decide which household members are included
The starting household generally consists of the applicant, spouse and first-degree lineal relatives listed on the same household resident register.
A de facto spouse can be included, and parents and children are first-degree lineal relatives.
Do not automatically include every sibling or housemate at the same address, or automatically exclude a spouse merely because the address differs.
Review an inclusion or exclusion first
- Keep the applicant in the first row and include people recognized as household members for the review.
- If someone lives separately and does not share a livelihood, confirm the exclusion and the evidence required.
- A person outside the usual relationship categories may still need inclusion when the actual livelihood and housing are shared.
- Property owned by an excluded person may still count when an included member directly uses or benefits from it; reflect the recognized amount in an included row.
The calculator supports one to six included people.
Where a separate residence, de facto marriage or support relationship leaves household composition unresolved, leave the confirmation unchecked and prepare consent and relationship documents for the center.
Use assessed monthly income and property
Monthly income included in the review
Enter each member's recognized monthly average for employment, business, interest and dividends, and public pensions in the appropriate fields.
Current take-home cash or a figure inferred only from health-insurance premiums may differ from assessed income.
Official wage records follow a source priority, while business, interest and dividend income use the applicable monthly conversion method.
Recognized property value
Use the amount after the applicable assessment and recognized deductions for land, buildings, housing, lease deposits, occupancy or purchase rights and included passenger vehicles.
This is not a simple sum of market prices and bank balances or an unrestricted net-worth figure.
Do not enter the full value of jointly owned property separately for every owner.
The calculator does not automatically establish regional property deductions, vehicle exclusions, accepted debt or official valuation.
If records refer to different months, or income changed after business closure, prepare income certificates, closure records and recent wage evidence for further review.
Unconfirmed household or financial assessments produce a review-needed result rather than a firm eligibility or allowance figure.
2026 standard median income
Select the standard median income for the number of included household members and add their recognized monthly income.
The ordinary Type I household threshold is 60%; the youth selection threshold is 120%.
The ordinary middle-aged Type II route uses 100%.
The following monthly KRW amounts are rounded to whole won for display.
Monthly 2026 South Korean standard median income at 60, 100 and 120 percent for households of one to six people, in KRW| People | 60% | 100% | 120% |
|---|
| 1 | 1,538,543 | 2,564,238 | 3,077,086 |
| 2 | 2,519,575 | 4,199,292 | 5,039,150 |
| 3 | 3,215,422 | 5,359,036 | 6,430,843 |
| 4 | 3,896,843 | 6,494,738 | 7,793,686 |
| 5 | 4,534,031 | 7,556,719 | 9,068,063 |
| 6 | 5,133,571 | 8,555,952 | 10,267,142 |
The calculation compares integer-scaled income with the standard rather than relying only on the rounded table.
Values close to the rounded 60% or 120% household boundary, and the personal-income restriction, are held for confirmation of whole-won handling.
Matching a displayed amount therefore does not necessarily produce a clear-pass result.
Distinguish the three Type I routes
Requirements-review candidate
Check household income at or below 60% of standard median income, assessed property at or below KRW 400 million, and at least 100 days or 800 hours of recognized employment within the preceding two years.
The youth property limit is KRW 500 million.
Age, applicant income and participation restrictions must also be satisfied.
Economically inactive selection candidate
An applicant within the ordinary household-income and property limits who lacks the employment-history requirement may be considered through selection.
No employment history does not automatically eliminate every Type I route.
Selection scoring, available funding and support priority remain separate from this basic-condition check.
Youth special-selection candidate
A youth applicant can be considered with household income at or below 120% and assessed property at or below KRW 500 million, regardless of employment history.
Where the requirements-review conditions also apply, the calculator displays that route first.
Youth selection does not guarantee acceptance or every subsequent monthly payment.
The applicant-income restriction is separate
Type I can be restricted by the applicant's own monthly average income even when the household total satisfies its threshold.
Article 7(3)(6) of the Act and Article 5(4) of the Enforcement Decree connect this restriction to 60% of the one-person standard median income.
For 2026: KRW 2,564,238 × 60% = KRW 1,538,542.8, displayed as KRW 1,538,543 after rounding.
Confirm the one-won boundary
The Act uses an at-or-above restriction, while Work24 wording describes income exceeding the displayed threshold.
To avoid a false conclusion at this rounding boundary, the calculator holds applicant income of KRW 1,538,542–1,538,544 for confirmation.
Ask the employment center to confirm assessed income and the applicable whole-won treatment.
Applicant income is the sum of the included income fields in the first row.
Entering a spouse's income under the applicant, or distributing the applicant's income among relatives, changes this restriction even when the household total stays the same.
Employment history and immediate availability
Enter recognized employment days or hours within the two years before the application date.
At least 100 days OR 800 hours is sufficient; do not add days and hours together to invent an equivalent period.
Overlapping employment periods count once, and business registration or employer confirmation may establish periods beyond employment-insurance records.
Check retirement, business and study situations
- Review employment of 30 or more hours per week, or business income of KRW 2.5 million or more per month, together with any incomplete-employment exception.
- Check whether study, training, military service or caregiving currently prevents immediate employment.
- Final-year, final-semester university or graduate students and people within two months of military discharge may have individual exceptions; student or service status alone is not a universal rejection.
- Confirm a real intention to seek work and the ability to carry out the employment activity plan.
Where business or employment duration cannot readily be documented, ask about the official conversion of income or sales into a recognized period.
Use confirmed days or hours where available, and treat an estimate without supporting evidence as preparation for consultation.
Waiting periods after other support
Type I restrictions can apply during unemployment-benefit receipt, designated direct public employment or designated job-seeking allowances, and for a specified period after they end.
Livelihood-benefit receipt is another Type I restriction.
Not every local grant is a conflicting allowance: establish the scheme's purpose and designation first.
Use six calendar months
The reference starting date is the day after the last benefit receipt or participation date.
The calculation uses six calendar months with month-end handling when no corresponding date exists.
It does not simply add 180 days.
- Last day 2026-05-07 → reference release 2026-11-08
- Last day 2026-02-28 → reference release 2026-09-01
- Last day 2026-08-30 → reference release 2027-03-01
When several dated restrictions apply, review the latest known release date.
An ongoing benefit or program prevents a firm overall application date, and reaching a reference date does not establish all the other eligibility conditions.
Weekend or holiday filing arrangements and program exceptions require separate confirmation.
For similar allowances, confirm whether the designated scheme requires job-seeking participation and provides an average of at least KRW 500,000 per month OR at least KRW 3 million in total.
Direct-job exceptions can include participation through an employment activity plan or a scheme primarily intended to promote entry into the labor market.
Refer exceptions for individual review rather than automatically imposing the ordinary wait.
Calculate the basic allowance and family additions
The 2026 basic job-seeking promotion allowance is KRW 600,000 per month for a standard six-month period.
Official eligibility, completion or performance of the employment activity plan, and the relevant payment applications remain necessary.
Recognized dependent household members aged 18 or younger, aged 70 or older, or with a severe disability can support family additions capped at KRW 400,000 per month.
Enter age and disability counts separately
Potential monthly amount = KRW 600,000 + min(age-qualified count + severe-disability count, 4) × KRW 100,000
Potential six-payment total = monthly amount × 6
A recognized minor or older dependent with a severe disability can appear in both counts, adding KRW 200,000 for that person.
For example, one recognized dependent aged 70 or older with a severe disability produces a potential KRW 800,000 per month and KRW 4.8 million for six full payments.
The combined family addition remains capped at KRW 400,000 per month.
Exclude the applicant from family-addition counts.
Also check exclusion of another Type I participant, a person already counted for another participant's family addition, or a person still within the related six-month restriction.
Unconfirmed family recognition holds the amount; that differs from a zero allowance because no Type I route is available.
KRW 1 million per month and KRW 6 million across six payments are conditional upper-bound assumptions.
The six-payment total assumes the same recognized family-addition units in every cycle; a dependent turning 19, changed family recognition, income or other payment conditions can change actual payments.
Use the calculator and read the result
- Enter a 2026 application date, date of birth and recognized service months; check the displayed age and youth status.
- Keep the applicant first, add household members and enter each member's inclusion, assessed monthly income and recognized property.
- Confirm the household and financial assessment, then enter recognized employment days and hours for the previous two years.
- Enter work and availability status, livelihood benefits, and the current or ended status and actual last date of the three other support categories.
- Enter recognized age-qualified and severe-disability dependents, excluding the applicant, and confirm eligibility for additions.
- Read the candidate route, unmet conditions, held items and document checklist together; save the TXT result for consultation if useful.
A candidate route means the entered basic facts fit a possible application path.
Review needed means documents or an exception must be resolved; a restriction means the stated condition needs attention first.
The summary does not replace household consent, income evidence or an official application.
Entering facts here does not transmit or submit an application to Work24.
Worked eligibility and allowance examples
Age 56, two-person household, 100 employment days
Assume applicant income is zero, the spouse's assessed monthly income is KRW 1,500,000, household property is KRW 200,000,000, and recognized employment within two years is 100 days.
Income is below the rounded two-person 60% reference of KRW 2,519,575, and property is within KRW 400 million.
With no other restrictions or unresolved facts, this is a requirements-review candidate; no family addition gives potential payments of KRW 600,000 per month and KRW 3,600,000 across six full payments.
The same facts, but 99 days and 799 hours
Both employment thresholds are missed, so the economically inactive selection route is considered.
At 99 days and 800 hours, the hours threshold is satisfied and the requirements-review route becomes available.
A single unit can change the route, but actual recognized periods still require supporting records.
Youth, two people, KRW 4 million income and KRW 450 million property
Assume the youth applicant has zero income, another household member provides the full KRW 4 million monthly household income, assessed property is KRW 450 million, and there is no employment history.
Income exceeds the ordinary 60% threshold but is below the rounded youth 120% reference of KRW 5,039,150, while property remains within KRW 500 million.
This is a youth-selection candidate; it is different from a case where the applicant personally earns KRW 4 million.
These examples assume confirmed household, financial and family assessments with no current participation restriction or earlier sanction.
Different household recognition or income reference months can change a result even when informal household cash flow appears similar.
Type II and the next practical step
A Type I applicant-income restriction or waiting period does not automatically exclude every employment-support service.
Type II possibilities can differ between current receipt or participation and a waiting period after it ends.
Current Work24 guidance and the operating notice allow the youth Type II route without a household-income ceiling; the ordinary middle-aged route checks household income at or below 100%.
Specific vulnerable groups have separate recognition rules and should be referred for consultation.
Prepare documents for your situation
- After retirement: insurance coverage and termination records, plus the actual last unemployment-benefit date
- After business closure: closure certificates, business income or sales records and property assessment evidence
- When living separately from a spouse or parent: relationship, livelihood and residence evidence
- For youth or family additions: recognized service records and dependent age, disability and duplicate-support evidence
The calculator displays zero Type I job-seeking promotion allowance for a Type II route.
It does not estimate Type II employment activity expenses.
Check Work24 jobseeker registration, introductory education and the employment-support application process before submitting the required documents.
Pre-application eligibility differs from income reporting
This tool organizes household, financial, employment-history and restriction facts before Type I approval.
If you already receive the allowance, report income arising during each payment cycle and review its effect separately.
Application-assessment income and the recipient's payment-cycle reporting income serve different purposes and may refer to different periods.
Situations requiring an additional review
Earlier program participation, improper-payment sanctions, specific vulnerable-group status, incomplete-employment exceptions, duplicate family support and unresolved property deductions need individual confirmation.
Potential totals do not include later reductions, suspension, activity-plan nonperformance or employment-success payments.
Spreading the standard allowance over up to one year does not automatically increase the total entitlement.
Use the job-seeking allowance income-adjustment calculator for a separate review of income during an approved payment cycle.
The employment center determines the recognized income category and performance of the activity plan.
Frequently asked questions
Can a person older than 65 apply?
Current guidance includes applicants through age 69.
Distinguish the statutory basic upper age of 64 from operational exceptions and confirm the applicable service category.
Does no employment history make Type I impossible?
The economically inactive selection route or youth special-selection route may still be considered.
Funding and priority selection mean a candidate result is not approval.
Does low household income remove the personal-income test?
No.
A separate applicant-income restriction applies, based on KRW 1,538,542.8 for 2026.
Assessed income and whole-won treatment must be confirmed near the rounded boundary.
Should I count 180 days after unemployment benefits end?
The Act refers to six months from the day after the last benefit receipt.
Calendar months differ from 180 days; confirm the actual release date and any other restriction.
Can one dependent qualify for both age and disability additions?
A recognized minor or older dependent with a severe disability can be counted in both categories.
The same person may add KRW 200,000, subject to the combined KRW 400,000 monthly cap and duplicate-support exclusions.
Are students and people awaiting discharge always excluded?
Immediate availability matters, and exceptions can cover a final-year final semester or discharge within two months.
Confirm the ability to perform the activity plan and provide the required evidence.
Does excluding a parent also remove all their property?
Not necessarily.
Property owned by an excluded person may count when an included household member directly uses or benefits from it.
Enter the recognized assessment rather than simply deleting the property.
Does youth Type II also require income below 120%?
Current Work24 guidance and operational youth exceptions allow Type II consideration without a household-income ceiling.
The 120% limit belongs to Type I youth selection; other participation restrictions still need review.
Does every local youth allowance cause a six-month wait?
Check the job-seeking participation condition and whether the scheme is a designated allowance.
The applicable amount test is an average of at least KRW 500,000 monthly or at least KRW 3 million total; exceptions require confirmation.
Is the displayed monthly amount guaranteed for a candidate?
No.
Official eligibility, recognized family additions, activity-plan performance and payment-cycle conditions still apply.
Monthly and six-payment figures assume full payments and are held when necessary facts remain unconfirmed.
Official sources and application preparation
Sources checked on 2026-11-07 include the Act and Enforcement Decree effective 2024-02-09, Enforcement Rules effective 2026-10-14, and Operating Notice No 2026-35 effective 2026-05-28.
The 2026 standard median income comes from Ministry of Health and Welfare Notice No 2025-135, applicable from 2026-01-01.
Recheck amendments, annual thresholds, family recognition and waiting-period practice when applying.
Bring a prepared checklist to the official application
Enter confirmed amounts and dates above, then save the document checklist and unresolved questions from your result.
Continue through Work24 jobseeker registration, introductory education and the employment-support application, or contact the employment center for your residence.
Use the held items to explain the exact facts that need an official decision.
Read official Work24 guidance