The Minimum Wage Commission, with nine representatives each from labor unions, management and the public, holds its sixth plenary session at the Government Complex Sejong, Thursday. Yonhap

Labor and management representatives are locked in a contentious standoff over whether to implement sector-specific minimum wages as part of ongoing discussions to set the 2025 minimum wage.

The proposal to establish separate wages for different industries has been advocated by the management side in recent years, but has been consistently voted down due to strong opposition from the labor sector.

The management side argues that implementing differentiated minimum wages, previously introduced in 1988 but not upheld since, is necessary. They contend that small business owners and the self-employed have struggled financially due to what they describe as a significant rise in the minimum wage in recent years.

On the other hand, the labor sector, which criticizes the measure as constituting socio-economic discrimination, argues that differentiated minimum wages contradict the purpose of the minimum wage system, which aims to ensure that workers receive a minimum amount of money necessary for living.

The issue has once again become a point of contention for the 27-member Minimum Wage Commission, which includes nine representatives each from labor unions, management and the public. The commission began its annual deliberations on May 21.

The tripartite commission was initially expected to vote during its sixth plenary session last Thursday on whether to adopt the measure for the first time in nearly 40 years. But the vote did not take place due to opposition from the labor sector.

All eyes are on whether the issue will come to a vote during the seventh plenary session of the commission, scheduled for Tuesday.

According to sources, all nine representatives from management support the measure, while all nine labor representatives oppose it. This means that the public sector representatives — mostly scholars and researchers — will have a decisive vote if the issue is brought to the table.

The country's Minimum Wages Act allows differentiated minimum wages across various sectors, but such a measure was implemented only once in 1988 when the law was introduced. Since then, the same minimum wage has been set annually across all industrial sectors for 36 years until this year when the rate stood at 9,860 won ($7.13) per hour.

During Thursday's session, the management side proposed differentiating minimum wages for micro-businesses such as restaurants, taxi services and convenience stores from those in other industries, potentially resulting in lower wages for workers in these sectors.

"The country's minimum wage has increased 52.4 percent for the last seven years. When holiday pay is considered, the wage has gone up by 82.9 percent," said Ryu Ki-jung, a representative from the Korea Enterprises Federation, a business lobby representing over 4,000 businesses in the country.

"Setting wages separately for different industries for next year is surely necessary, considering some particular sectors that cannot afford even the current level of minimum wage."

Ryu Ki-jung, left, a representative of the Korea Enterprises Federation, sits next to Ryu Gi-seop, who represents the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, during the sixth plenary session of the Minimum Wage Commission at the Government Complex Sejong, Thursday. Yonhap

The labor sector, for its part, claims that, if the measure is implemented, people will eventually hesitate to work for industries subject to lower minimum wages, which will lead to shortages of workers and will also work against employers.

"Workers who merely earn 2 million won a month will not be able to survive if their wage level decreases further, considering excessively high prices," said Lee Mi-sun, a representative of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of Korea's two largest umbrella unions.

Not all countries around the world enforce equal minimum wages across all industrial sectors.

Among 187 member states of the International Labour Organization, 90 percent have a minimum wage system, and half of those have multiple minimum wages, according to a report written at the end of 2020 by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations.

But experts noted that countries that differentiate minimum wages mostly opt for giving a higher wage for particular industries, unlike the Korean management side which argues that some industries should be allowed to pay a lower wage.

Amid the continued labor-management confrontation, the tripartite commission failed again to meet the legal deadline for determining the 2025 minimum wage, which was Thursday. Another point of focus — whether the minimum wage will surpass 10,000 won per hour for the first time — is still pending.

Since 1987, when the annual deliberation on the level of minimum wage began, tripartite representatives reached a consensus by the deadline only nine times.