Convenience stores pay part timers least: survey

Part-time jobs in Seoul on average paid 6,718 won ($5.89) per hour in the second quarter of this year, with convenience stores paying the least, according to statistics from the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Thursday.

Seoul’s hourly wage for part-timers is 688 won higher than the current minimum wage of 6,030 won and 192 won higher than the median hourly wage across the country. It also showed a 0.46 percentage increase compared to last year. The median hourly wage in Seoul was 6,687 won in the first quarter.

SMG and the Korea Labor and Society Institute analyzed over 390,000 job advertisements for 107 occupations posted on the online job market Alba Heaven from April to June.

There is ongoing protest in the labor sector over the newly set hourly minimum wage for next year, which is 6,470 won. The labor sector has been demanding that it be increased to 10,000 won.

Based on the latest statistics, the SMG said it will prepare measures to deal with youth part-timers and their rights.

"As an increasing number of youths are having their first work experience at part-time workplaces, the Seoul City will strive to create a transparent and realistic labor environment,” said Yoo Yeon-sik, the head of the SMG’s labor department.

According to the data, convenience stores were paying hourly wages lower than Seoul’s median. Convenience stores paid an hourly wage of 6,232 won, which is similar to the 6,300 won per hour paid by bakeries, coffee shops and Internet cafes.

More than 87 percent, or 174,149, of the total job postings targeted those aged 19 to 23, followed by 7.7 percent targeting those aged 14 to 18 and 3.5 percent targeting those aged 24 to 28.

By university towns, part-time jobs were mostly concentrated near Hongik University where there were 10,285 job openings. This was followed by Konkuk University (10,094 job openings), Hangyang University (4,609 job openings) and Seoul National University (4,525 job openings).

Meanwhile, part-time jobs in Gangseo-gu showed the highest hourly wage at 6,954 won, followed by those in Mapo-gu (6,933 won) and Gangnam-gu (6,923 won).

In contrast, the lowest hourly wages were paid in Seongbuk-gu (6,589 won), Dobong-gu (6,545 won) and Jungrang-gu (6,519 won).

More than 30 percent of the part-time jobs were in Gangnam and areas nearby.

Gangnam-gu held 49,569, or 15.6 percent, of the total number of part-time jobs, along with Seocho-gu (26,478 jobs) and Songpa-gu (22,133 jobs).

By job scope, delivery services paid the highest hourly wage at 7,374 won, followed by distributing leaflets (7,145 won), office assistants (6,946 won) and restaurant staff (6,857 won).

Job advertisements were mostly put up by convenience stores (54,534 job postings) and restaurants (51,850 job postings), accounting in total for over 27 percent of overall job openings.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)