Minimum wage talks fail to meet legal deadline

Negotiations among employees, employers and laborers to set next year’s minimum wage fell through without an agreement Wednesday, failing to meet the June 28 legal deadline. 

The Minimum Wage Council was not able to reconcile differing views over the growth rate of the minimum wage, with business representatives calling for a freeze and labor counterparts demanding it be raised by 65.8 percent.

Extra meetings are scheduled to be held for three consecutive days from July 4, with both sides set to present revised proposals.

Labor representatives demand next year’s hourly minimum wage be raised to 10,000 won ($8.67) from this year’s 6,030 won. They argue the hike would curb the nation’s income inequality, improve living standards of low-income workers and boost the economy by spurring consumer spending.

Business leaders campaign for a freeze, saying that the minimum wage has risen too rapidly and needs to be stabilized. They also claim that soaring labor costs will take a toll on small and medium-sized enterprises and result in job losses for low-skilled workers.

Through seven rounds of plenary sessions, the Minimum Wage Council decided to stipulate hourly wages as well as monthly wages in employment contracts, an attempt to better protect workers’ rights to be entitled to one paid holiday for five working days.

Since the government adopted the minimum wage in 1988, the 27-member Minimum Wage Council, consisting of nine members each from labor, management and the public sector, has set the minimum wage through discussion.

The government will declare the agreed rate for next year’s minimum wage on August 5.

By Ock Hyun-ju  (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)