The True Face of Jobs Revealed by COVID-19... 'Short-term Part-time Jobs' as a 3.6 Trillion Won Stopgap Measure

Surge in Non-Regular Worker Layoffs Amid COVID-19 Impact... Employment Insecurity Rises
March Unemployment Benefits Paid 934 Billion Won... 155,000 New Recipients
49,000 Non-Regular Unemployed Due to Contract Expiry and Project Completion
"Non-Regular Workers Are 'Bullet Shields' for Regular Employees... Need to Create Quality Jobs"

Asia Economy DB=Photo by Honam Moon munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] #Mr. A joined a daycare center in Hongseong, Chungnam, last month as a one-year contract teacher. The salary was at the minimum wage level. Less than a month after starting work, the COVID-19 outbreak occurred. The daycare center closed temporarily. The daycare center director verbally notified Mr. A of contract termination, saying, "Due to difficult circumstances, please stop coming." Mr. A was unfairly dismissed but finds it cumbersome to take legal action and cannot receive unemployment benefits due to the short employment period.

Due to the shockwave of COVID-19, non-regular workers have become the frontline victims of employment insecurity. Cases of non-regular workers being the first targets of corporate restructuring or employers unilaterally notifying contract termination are increasing. The government is attempting to fill the labor market again with six-month public and short-term jobs by investing 3.6 trillion won, drawing criticism that this is merely a "band-aid solution." Experts emphasize the need to revise policy directions to ease overprotection of regular workers while expanding quality jobs.

◆Service industries such as childcare and nursing hit hard by COVID-19= According to employment insurance statistics on the 24th, the amount paid for unemployment benefits last month was 934 billion won, setting another record high. The total number of unemployment benefit recipients reached about 618,000. The number of new unemployment benefit recipients last month was 155,000, an increase of 31,000 compared to the same month last year. This means that about 30,000 more people lost their jobs recently than last year, with the majority analyzed to have been affected by COVID-19.

Looking at the reasons for unemployment among new unemployment benefit recipients, "contract expiration/construction completion," which corresponds to non-regular workers, was 49,000, the second highest after "downsizing due to business needs/company recession" at 72,000. Next were resignations due to "company circumstances" at 12,000 and "closure/bankruptcy" at 8,600. The business difficulties caused by COVID-19 have led to an unemployment crisis, with non-regular workers suffering more than regular workers, who have stricter dismissal conditions.

Non-regular workers employed at small businesses are defenseless against employers' dismissal notices. Oh Seung-eun, head of policy planning at the Public Transport Union, said, "In daycare centers, many fixed-term workers usually receive contract termination notices around the end of February before the new school year starts in March," adding, "With the COVID-19 outbreak, cases of recommended resignation such as 'It's difficult to operate, so leave' have continued not only at the end of February but also through March and April."

Home care and disability activity support workers who provide one-on-one face-to-face services are also directly affected by COVID-19. If users request service suspension due to infection concerns, workers have no choice but to remain on indefinite leave. Oh said, "Workers contract with care institutions, and a few care institutions monopolize work regionally," adding, "Because they need to maintain good relations with employers to receive work later, it is difficult to demand leave pay. They cannot even bring up applying for employment retention subsidies."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

◆Overprotection of regular workers, increase in fixed-term workers... "Human shields"= Experts point out that regulations protecting regular employment, which make it difficult to dismiss once hired, and high-wage systems such as seniority-based pay are factors that discourage companies from hiring regular workers. Along with the 52-hour workweek and minimum wage increases, the number of fixed-term workers has increased.

According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor's "Survey on Fixed-term Workers in Businesses," as of the first half of 2018, the number of fixed-term workers in businesses with five or more employees reached a record high of 1.925 million. They accounted for 13.2% of all workers, also a record high. As of the second half of last year, the number was close to 1.8 million, accounting for 12% of all workers. Compared to 2015 (1.48 million, 10.6%) and 2016 (1.72 million, 12%) before the Moon Jae-in administration, the number of fixed-term workers increased and their proportion did not decrease.

Professor Park Ji-soon of Korea University Law School said, "In an economic crisis, non-regular workers are in the reality of being 'human shields' for regular workers," advising, "It is necessary to quickly support living expenses for non-regular workers who have lost jobs or income."

Amid worsening employment insecurity for non-regular workers due to COVID-19, the government is pouring 3.6 trillion won in funds to produce more non-regular workers again. The plan is to create 550,000 six-month public and youth short-term jobs to overcome the immediate employment crisis. Regarding this, Professor Park said, "It is questionable whether this can strengthen young people's job skills and competitiveness and serve as a bridge to quality jobs in the future," pointing out, "Since these are low-wage short-term jobs at or above minimum wage, they may only serve as consolation money for low-income youth."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.