Minimum Wage, No Industry-Specific Application Next Year... 14 Votes Against, 11 Votes For

Minimum Wage Commission Holds 3rd Plenary Meeting
Voting Ends Without Major Employer Opposition
Initial Labor and Management Proposals Likely to Be Revealed at Next Meeting

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Minimum Wage Commission decided on the 29th not to apply next year's minimum wage differently by industry.

Park Jun-sik, chairman of the Minimum Wage Commission, held the 3rd plenary meeting at the Government Sejong Complex on the same day and announced that the decision was made through a vote with the participation of all 27 labor, management, and public interest committee members.

The vote result on differentiated application by industry was 11 in favor, 14 against, and 2 abstentions. The majority of attending members opposed the differentiated application, resulting in its rejection.

Public interest committee member Kwon Soon-won, a professor at Sookmyung Women’s University, explained, "Under the current law, only differentiated application by type of business is allowed," adding, "The management side also requested, as part of system improvement, differentiated application beyond the type of business, including by scale and region."

He continued, "Labor representatives said it was 'difficult to accept' and 'unthinkable' to apply differentiated minimum wages by industry," and reported, "They argued that setting minimum wages by industry itself institutionalizes discrimination."

Professor Kwon said, "Last year, there were objections and complaints from the management side regarding the vote result on differentiated application by industry, but this year it was accepted without any special objections or issues."

Meanwhile, labor and management did not present their initial minimum wage demands on the day. The initial demands from both sides are expected to be disclosed at the 4th plenary meeting scheduled for the 1st of next month.

Professor Kwon stated, "The labor side said the initial proposal is ready, and the management side still has some internal issues to organize, so it was decided to submit, explain, and start discussions on the initial proposal at the next meeting."

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