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| SMEs and Startups Minister Hong Jong-haak. Korea Times file |
By Ko Dong-hwan
A South Korean ministry supporting small and medium businesses said operators' recent demands that migrant workers be paid less than experienced Korean laborers is against domestic and international laws and difficult to legalize.
A Human Resource Innovation Policy Division official from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups told The Korea Times the proposal ― calling for the so-called "graded payment system" for foreign laborers ― by the Korea Federation of SMEs needs the ministry's further consideration to verify its feasibility. The official said domestic labor laws and the International Labor Organization's rules run against the proposal.
"The proposal demands that migrant workers don't fully receive the statutory minimum hourly wage taking effect in Korea in 2019," said the official, who wished to remain anonymous. The wage increased by 10.9 percent to 8,350 won ($7.45). "But Korea's labor laws, as well as the ILO, ban treating workers based on their nationality."
The official said that while the ministry supports the Korean business group, also known as K-BIZ, some of its demands, including the latest linked to the minimum wage hike, are eventually decided by the Ministry of Employment and Labor.
"The SMEs ministry's work is closely linked to the employment ministry and we must persuade them," said the official in charge of labor issues, including minimum wages and working conditions. "We listen to workers' voices and share them with the employment ministry. Recently, we persuaded the employment ministry to raise hiring subsidies for SMEs with fewer than five employees from 130,000 won ($115) to 150,000 won per month."
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| Lawmakers at the National Assembly listen to a briefing about a revision of the minimum wage law, May 28, 2018. Korea Times file |
At a meeting on the minimum wage hike at the K-BIZ office in Yeouido, Seoul, in July, the federation argued that foreign workers, mostly inexperienced in manufacturing sectors for which they were recruited, should be paid 80 percent of the minimum wage the first year, 90 percent the following year, and 100 percent in the third year. The proposal came after the federation accepted most of its member companies' suggestions that raising migrant workers' wages is unfair.
"Paying foreign workers almost the same as Koreans while their productivity is not as high as that of the Koreans can be a burden to Korean bosses," a K-BIZ official said. "Considering migrant workers' productivity and proficiency, a graded payment system is necessary."
According to a survey from March 2017 by K-BIZ of migrant workers with non-professional E-9 visas, the foreign workers' labor-based productivity was 87.5 percent of their Korean counterparts, but their monthly wage was almost same ― 96.3 percent.
SMEs minister Hong Jong-haak, who attended the meeting, said he will "consider the proposal."
But the official said the ministry isn't close to announcing whether it will adopt it. The proposal, one of more than 10 made by K-BIZ, needs further examination inside the ministry. Then it needs the backing of the employment ministry.
"The new minimum wage deal has already lodged a revision bid looking to be legislated," Foreign Workforce Division official Nah Ye-soon, from the employment ministry, told The Korea Times. "As to this whole graded payment system idea that is linked to the minimum wage, what we are generally concerned about is knowing everyone's opinions and making a final decision at the end. Until then, we cannot make any official statement regarding the proposal."
Minister Hong said Wednesday that a 7 trillion won support package would be provided for small businesses and the self-employed, following growing concern from the group that the minimum wage hike is causing them severe losses.
