"Difficult to Advance Discussions on Expanding Minimum Wage Coverage... Further Fact-Finding Needed for Next Year's Deliberations"

Public Interest Members of the Minimum Wage Commission Issue Recommendation Statement on June 10

While labor and management continued to debate whether to expand the scope of the minimum wage at the Minimum Wage Commission, the public interest members determined that it would be difficult to advance discussions on the issue based on the current fact-finding surveys regarding workers whose wages are determined by contract work and other similar arrangements, as well as the criteria for wage determination.

On June 10, after the fourth plenary meeting of the Minimum Wage Commission held at the Government Sejong Complex, the public interest members issued a statement containing these points.

The scene of the 2nd plenary meeting of the Minimum Wage Commission held at the Government Sejong Complex on the 27th of last month. Photo by Yonhap News

In their statement, the public interest members said, "At the previous plenary meeting, the labor side prepared and presented materials based on the recommendations of the public interest members, and discussions were held accordingly. Through the materials prepared by the labor side, our commission was able to broaden its understanding of cases and situations related to Article 5, Paragraph 3 of the Minimum Wage Act, and this served as an important opportunity to advance the discussions." However, they also stated that it would be difficult to reach a decision on this matter during this year's commission.

The public interest members added, "At this point, additional research is needed to make substantial progress in the related discussions. We request that the Ministry of Employment and Labor conduct a survey, to the extent possible, on the actual status of the subjects, scale, income, and working conditions related to the application of Article 5, Paragraph 3 of the Minimum Wage Act, and submit the results during the review of the minimum wage for 2027."

They further stated, "Fundamentally, we recommend that discussions on whether and how to apply the minimum wage to special-type workers, platform workers, and other labor providers who are not classified as workers under the Labor Standards Act, as requested by the labor side, be conducted not by our commission but by separate bodies with substantive authority, such as the government, the National Assembly, or the Economic, Social and Labor Council."