One in four salaried workers earned a monthly wage of less than two million won in the first half of this year, according to data released by Statistics Korea on Tuesday.

The data showed 25-point-three percent of salaried workers in the first six months earned less than two million won, a drop from 29-point-eight percent during the same period last year. 

Those earning less than one million won a month accounted for nine-point-four percent, and 27 percent of this group were concentrated in the accommodations and restaurant sectors.

A total of over 28 million people were employed in the January to June period, up by 865-thousand on-year. Those in the food service sector fell 46-thousand to one-point-56 million though they took up the largest portion at five-point-six percent. The banking sector also hired 22-thousand fewer people on-year in the first half.

Meanwhile, the number of delivery workers jumped by 26-thousand from a year ago to surpass 450-thousand for the first time, outnumbering school teachers(422-thousand) and software experts(399-thousand). Numbering around 410-thousand, most delivery workers were men.