The present invention relates to an electrode assembly in which a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate are alternately laminated into a layer in one or two directions with a separator interposed therebetween. The present invention also relates to a method for manufacturing the electrode assembly.; The present invention provides an electrode assembly for a battery and a method for manufacturing same, wherein both ends or a lower end of a current collector of the positive electrode plate are exposed to form a stepped portion between the ends of the positive electrode plate and a film layer and thus form a positive electrode plate stepped portion, and an adhesive is applied to the thus-formed positive electrode plate stepped portion such that the positive electrode plate stepped portion is attached to the separator, to thereby prevent an increase in the thickness of a battery and to thus enable easy assembly during the manufacture of the battery.; Further, a negative electrode plate stepped portion is also formed in a current collector of the negative electrode plate, thus effectively preventing the thickness of the battery from increasing by accumulated adhesive during the manufacture of the battery. Consequently, the performance of the battery is prevented from being degraded by the application of the adhesive, and wettability with an electrolyte can be maintained.