A protester calls for a significant increase in next year's minimum wage during a press conference near the presidential office in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap

More than 3 million workers in Korea are being paid less than the minimum hourly wage of 9,620 won ($7.15), a report revealed on Thursday.

According to a report released by the Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF), a business group focused on labor-management relations, the number of employees receiving less than the legally required amount increased by 255,000 in 2023 from the previous year to 3,011,000, or 13.7 percent of the total.

The report shows that more than 43 percent of workers in agriculture and fishing industries fall into that category. Lodgings and food industries also paid employees meagerly, as 37.3 percent of them said they were paid less than the minimum wage.

The rates are far higher than underpaid workers in plumbing and waste disposal industries (1.9 percent) and science and technology industries (2.1 percent).

A drastic increase in minimum wages over the last 20 years may be behind the rising rate of those being paid less than the minimum wage. In the report, the KEF said only 4.3 percent of all workers were paid less than the minimum wage in 2001, when it was just 1,865 won.

The KEF said surging labor costs particularly affected small businesses (four employees or fewer) where 32.7 percent of workers said that they were paid less than the minimum wage last year.

The report came after the announcement that a commission consisting of representatives from workers, employers, experts and government bodies would hold its first meeting on May 21 to decide next year's minimum wage.