Dependent contractors in South Korea’s incomplete multi-pillar pension system

Drawing on a survey of 1,053 dependent contractors (DCs) in ten occupations, conducted by the Korea Platform and Freelancer Worker Mutual Aid(KPFWMA), this study examines how DCs are positioned within South Korea’s ‘incomplete’ multi-pillar pension system (MPPS), conceptualized along three dimensions: statutory, administrative, and functional incompleteness. The results show precarious integration: about 40% of respondents lack any pension coverage, while only one in ten attains full multi-pillar protection. Coverage is stratified primarily by age and income, occupational differences are comparatively muted, and second-pillar coverage obtained through DC work itself is nearly absent. Latent demand for a collective retirement mutual-aid scheme is nonetheless substantial within the sample, including 43.8% of KPFWMA non-members. The findings indicate that an incomplete MPPS converts labour-market precarity into old-age insecurity from the point of enrolment onward, and support mandatory contributions by business owners, contribution subsidies for low-income participants, and transitional collective arrangements.