Minimum wage introduction and employment: Evidence from South Korea

•We examine the effect of the introduction of minimum wage on employment in Korea.•We apply a difference-in-differences framework to the plant-level panel data.•The introduction of minimum wage increased the average remuneration for employees.•The minimum wage introduction had no discernible effect on plant-level employment.

This paper examines the effect of the introduction of the national minimum wage on plant-level employment in South Korea. We show that the minimum wage introduction increased the average remuneration for employees, but has no discernible effect on plant-level employment.