Employment
State job assignment, with no independent trade union
The Socialist Labour Law provides an eight-hour day and paid leave, but employment is assigned by the state rather than contracted, and no union independent of the Party is permitted.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Work placement is administrative. In special zones, foreign investors hire through a state labour service corporation.
Governing law
- Socialist Labour Law of the DPRK1978
- Law on Foreign-Invested Enterprise Labour Regulations
In practice
In the special economic zones, wages for workers supplied to foreign ventures are paid to a state entity rather than directly to the worker, so the relationship between nominal wage rates and actual take-home pay cannot be verified. UN bodies and ILO commentary describe mobilised labour, including on construction projects, and the deployment of DPRK workers abroad under arrangements that Security Council resolutions required member states to terminate. There is no strike right and no independent inspection.