This article estimates wages of unskilled occupations and consumer priceindices by city in colonial Korea. Both nominal and real wages tended to risefaster in higher-paid occupations, while real wages were likely to grow fasterin cities where lower living standards prevailed initially. Primary schoolenrollment accelerated wage growth, but workers suffered slower improvementin real incomes in cities located in provinces with higher land tenancy ratio.Real wage gaps among cities were not being closed as a matter of trend,particularly due to the interwar agricultural depression and the industrializationdrive in the 1930s. Unskilled real wages for different occupations in differentcities were more likely to rise than fall.