Minimum wage to be KRW 7530 next year…16.4% up↑than this year
Lee Mi-jeong | lmj0919@ | 2017-07-17 19:05:54
The minimum wage is expected to be set at KRW 7530 per hour next year. The minimum wage is 16.4 % higher than the minimum wage of KRW 6470 this year. This is the highest rate since 2001 when the rate of increase was 16.8 %. The Korean government has decided to directly support the surplus exceeding the minimum wage increase rate (7.4%) for the last five years in order to reduce the burden of small businesses and small and medium sized enterprises due to the minimum wage increase.
According to the government, labor and management, the minimum wage committee, which had suffered a rupture because of labor union members and user committee members, decided on July 15 at the government`s Sejong government office for the 11th general meeting to set a minimum wage of KRW 7530 per hour next year. The minimum wage committee voted for the final draft of KRW 7530 for the labor side of the meeting and KRW 7300 for the user side. The rate of increase since 2010 was 2.75 to 8.1 %, and the rate of increase of 16.4 % is ‘cheap’. The number of workers directly affected by the minimum wage is estimated to be 4.63 million (based on the survey of economically active population) next year, and the influence rate is 23.6%. The new minimum wage will be raised by KRW 221,540 from the current year to the amount of KRW 1,737,770, which is based on the monthly wage. The average monthly salary for a single-person householder with a minimum wage will be 1,573,770, which is KRW 221,540 higher than this year`s salary.
The Korean government held a first meeting of the minister of economic affairs under the auspices of Kim Dong-yeon, deputy prime minister and the Minister of Strategy and Finance, and offered support measures of `KRW 4 trillion + α` to ease the burden of small and medium enterprises due to the rise in minimum wage. The direct support, which is estimated to cost around KRW 3 trillion, will be implemented by the government through the Task Force (TF) of the related ministries, and will be reflected in the next year`s budget after specifying the targets, amount and delivery system.
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According to the government, labor and management, the minimum wage committee, which had suffered a rupture because of labor union members and user committee members, decided on July 15 at the government`s Sejong government office for the 11th general meeting to set a minimum wage of KRW 7530 per hour next year. The minimum wage committee voted for the final draft of KRW 7530 for the labor side of the meeting and KRW 7300 for the user side. The rate of increase since 2010 was 2.75 to 8.1 %, and the rate of increase of 16.4 % is ‘cheap’. The number of workers directly affected by the minimum wage is estimated to be 4.63 million (based on the survey of economically active population) next year, and the influence rate is 23.6%. The new minimum wage will be raised by KRW 221,540 from the current year to the amount of KRW 1,737,770, which is based on the monthly wage. The average monthly salary for a single-person householder with a minimum wage will be 1,573,770, which is KRW 221,540 higher than this year`s salary.
The Korean government held a first meeting of the minister of economic affairs under the auspices of Kim Dong-yeon, deputy prime minister and the Minister of Strategy and Finance, and offered support measures of `KRW 4 trillion + α` to ease the burden of small and medium enterprises due to the rise in minimum wage. The direct support, which is estimated to cost around KRW 3 trillion, will be implemented by the government through the Task Force (TF) of the related ministries, and will be reflected in the next year`s budget after specifying the targets, amount and delivery system.