1. Business has concerns over increasing managerial burdens with politicians’ attempts to intervene in individual companies’ labor issues through parliamentary inspections
During the National Assembly’s parliamentary inspections from 7 to 27 October, some opposition party members of the Environment and Labor Committee (ELC) attempted to politicize some of the labor issues at individual enterprises by urging appointment of entrepreneurs as witnesses.
In particular, some politicians on the Euljiro Committee of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) consistently intervened during the parliamentary inspections by the ELC in individual enterprises on 13 October. Some even raised suspicions over the real purpose behind the frequent labor inspections conducted by the Ministry of Employment & Labor (MOEL) on SK Broadband partner firms and LGU+ partner firms. These companies are concerned as their managerial burdens have increased accordingly.
* The National Assembly (through the ELC) conducted a parliamentary inspection of the Tripartite Commission, the National Labor Relations Commission, the Minimum Wage Council, the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Examination Committee, and 5 Regional Ministry of Employment & Labor branches (including Seoul, Jungbu, and Busan) on Monday, 13 October.
During the parliamentary inspection period, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) held a press conference and an outdoor rally to urge appointment of entrepreneurs as witnesses to the parliamentary inspection. The KCTU held a rally on 13 October to urge use of the parliamentary inspections to “settle labor disputes at workplaces”.
2. Government plans to improve employment rate through an increase in part-time employment
The government held a ministerial meeting on 15 October and announced “complementary measures for increasing part-time employment”, including plans to convert full-time jobs to part-time jobs, support to change into open-ended contracts and expand social insurance coverage.
[Table 1] Complementary Measures for Increasing Part-time Employment
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Features
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Details
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Expansion of part-time employment
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∆ Expand part-time employment of civil servants
∆ Expand support for labor costs at private enterprises
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Converting positions to part-time
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∆ Promote conversion into part-time jobs in the public sector for civil servants and at public institutions
∆ Encourage private sector through incentives to convert full-time positions into part-time jobs
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Improvement of working conditions for part-time employment
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∆ Expand coverage of social insurance for part-time workers
∆ Expand civil service pension to include part-time workers in civil service
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The government plans to impose social insurance premiums on part-time workers (less than 60 hours per month) who have until now been exempt from social insurance subscription. However, small business owners will be required to report the income and working hours of their part-time workers, which will increase administrative costs and management burden.