Wage Arrears Hit 170,000 Workers Nationwide
Over Half of Unpaid Wages Concentrated in Seoul Metropolitan Area
Government to Launch Large-Scale Crackdown and Strengthen Sanctions
As of July this year, wages totaling 1.3421 trillion won for approximately 170,000 workers have not been paid. Among the 17 provinces and metropolitan cities, Gyeonggi Province had the largest amount of unpaid wages.
According to the wage arrears status by region released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on September 7, the total amount of unpaid wages as of July this year stood at 1.3421 trillion won, affecting 173,000 workers.
By region, Gyeonggi Province recorded the highest amount of wage arrears at 354 billion won, with 43,200 workers in Gyeonggi not receiving their wages on time.
Seoul followed, with 47,000 workers owed a total of 343.4 billion won in unpaid wages.
More than half of all unpaid wages were concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area.
The amount of wage arrears in the metropolitan area, including Gyeonggi, Seoul, and Incheon, reached 760.2 billion won, accounting for 56.6% of the total. This is because a large proportion of businesses are concentrated in Gyeonggi (25%) and Seoul (18.8%).
After Gyeonggi and Seoul, the largest amounts of wage arrears were found in South Gyeongsang Province (75.6 billion won, 10,400 workers), Busan (74.5 billion won, 10,400 workers), and Gwangju (67.2 billion won, 4,400 workers).
In Seoul, wage arrears were most prevalent in the transportation, warehousing, telecommunications, and construction sectors, while in Jeju, the construction, wholesale and retail, food, and accommodation sectors had the largest amounts of unpaid wages. In other regions, manufacturing and construction accounted for a high proportion of wage arrears.
This is the first time the Ministry of Employment and Labor has analyzed wage arrears by local government and shared the data with regional authorities.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to share and collaborate on monthly wage arrears data with local governments going forward, as wage arrears are not an issue for the central government alone.
Kim Yujin, Director-General of Labor Policy at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, stated, "In October, we will conduct a large-scale joint crackdown on wage arrears nationwide in cooperation with local governments," adding, "We also plan to establish the legal and institutional basis to delegate labor inspection authority to local governments as soon as possible."
Previously, the government announced its goal to reduce the total amount of unpaid wages by half during its term and to increase the wage arrears resolution rate to 95%.
The government also plans to strengthen economic sanctions against habitual wage arrears employers and to pursue measures such as punitive damages and travel bans.
On September 2, President Lee Jaemyung presided over a Cabinet meeting at the Yongsan presidential office, where he received a report on wage arrears from Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Younghun. President Lee stated, "If it is a repeat offense or if an employer is able to pay but chooses not to, they should be severely punished."
President Lee added, "I have personally been denied wages many times. We are not slaves, and yet employers make people work and then withhold their pay. The penalties are too lenient. This affects large numbers of people and should be regarded as a serious crime."
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