Controversy Over Salt Farm Slave Recruitment Notice... Ministry of Labor to Conduct Full Investigation

"Measures to Clearly Reveal Working Conditions"

Recently, a job posting at a salt farm sparked controversy as it failed to meet the minimum hourly wage, leading to accusations of a "salt farm slave job posting." In response, the government plans to conduct a full investigation into job postings at salt farm workplaces.

A salt farm on Sinui Island, Sinan County, Jeollanam-do. This photo is not directly related to the content of the article.

On the 4th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that it will verify the appropriateness of working conditions and potential labor law violations through a comprehensive investigation of job postings at salt farms, which are known for harsh working environments.

The ministry stated, "We have taken measures to ensure that job postings with insufficiently detailed or inappropriate working conditions are corrected," adding, "We plan to strengthen the inspection system to prevent similar cases from recurring by ensuring the appropriateness of job information." Furthermore, the Worknet system will be revamped so that information about work type and working hours can be confirmed even without reviewing the entire posting, and labor inspections at salt farm workplaces will be conducted this year.

Previously, on the public portal Worknet, a job posting was listed until the 3rd seeking workers to work at a salt farm in Amtae-myeon, Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do, under conditions of "7 days a week, monthly salary of at least 2.02 million KRW."

Although it added "weekly regular working hours 40 hours," the posting raised controversy because, based on the content alone, holidays might not be guaranteed, and the monthly salary did not meet the 2024 minimum wage (hourly wage 9,860 KRW, monthly salary 2,060,740 KRW). However, the Ministry of Employment and Labor explained that since the posting date was November 16 of last year, it did not violate the 2023 minimum wage (hourly wage 9,620 KRW, monthly salary 2,010,580 KRW) standards.

The ministry also confirmed that regarding the "7 days a week" work schedule, due to the nature of salt farm operations where work depends on weather conditions, it is difficult to set holidays in advance, which resulted in the job posting lacking specific working condition details. However, after the controversy arose, the ministry deleted the posting.

Subsequently, on the 18th of last month, another job posting appeared seeking employees to work at a salt farm in Daesan-eup, Seosan-si, Chungnam. This posting only stated working hours as "6 AM to 5 PM, 7 days a week, hourly wage of at least 9,860 KRW." The salt farm operator explained that the working hours included a 3-hour break, but the posting did not provide separate details about welfare benefits or other working conditions and break times.

Both postings are presumed to have been aimed at hiring foreign workers. Following the exposure of these job postings, netizens criticized them, questioning whether they were recruiting "salt farm slaves."