Lee Jae-gap "Nationwide Employment Insurance Opinion Gathering"... Insurance Planners Wanted Choice

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Lee Jae-gap, Minister of Employment and Labor, stated at the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee’s audit held at the Government Sejong Complex on the 8th, "We will do our best to ensure the passage of the amendment to the Employment Insurance Act for applying employment insurance to workers in special types of employment (Special Employment Workers, SEWs)." He added, "Before the employment insurance expansion bill is reviewed by the National Assembly, we plan to hold meetings with each SEW occupational council and labor-management to gather stakeholders’ opinions."

The government is pushing for mandatory employment insurance for special employment workers such as insurance planners as part of the 'Era of Nationwide Employment Insurance,' but there are claims that the option to choose should be given to the individuals concerned.

According to the insurance industry on the 9th, a significant number of insurance planners oppose mandatory enrollment in employment insurance.

According to the results of the "Survey on Employment Insurance Application for Insurance Planners Affiliated with Corporate Insurance Agencies (GA)" submitted by the Korea Insurance Agency Association to Hong Seok-jun, a member of the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee from the People Power Party, only 274 out of 1,245 planners supported mandatory employment insurance enrollment. This accounted for only 22% of the total.

The remaining 955 (76.7%) opposed mandatory enrollment, and among them, as many as 769 (61.8%) answered that the option to choose should be granted.

Insurance planners are reluctant to enroll in employment insurance due to the burden of insurance premiums and the frequent voluntary job changes. Current unemployment benefits can only be received in cases of involuntary unemployment such as business closure, but insurance planners often quit or decide to change jobs on their own.

The retention rate of new planners after one year is only 38.2% for life insurance and 53.3% for non-life insurance. This means that out of 10 new planners, 6 quit within a year.

Minister Lee Jae-gap of the Ministry of Employment and Labor attended the "Minpyeongryeon Current Issues Meeting - The Meaning and Future of the National Employment Insurance System" discussion held at the National Assembly on the 23rd and delivered a greeting./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Additionally, in this survey, 784 planners (63.0%) expressed concern that jobs would be threatened due to mandatory employment insurance. They were most worried that the employer’s cost burden would increase, reducing the capacity to employ and worsening the business environment.

Furthermore, looking at the monthly income of planners, 16.5% earned less than 1.5 million KRW, 21.7% earned between 1.5 and 2.5 million KRW, 20.5% earned between 2.5 and 3.5 million KRW, and 41.3% earned more than 3.5 million KRW.

Assemblyman Hong Seok-jun pointed out, "Due to the worsening operational difficulties in the insurance agency industry, there is a risk of mass layoffs where 16.5% of low-performing planners lose their jobs." He added, "Among approximately 230,000 insurance planners affiliated with insurance agencies, about 38,000, which is 16.5%, could lose their jobs."

The business community also conveyed to the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 1st that "the opinions of the most important stakeholders, the business community and SEW employers, were not accepted. The premium sharing ratio between SEWs, who are more similar to self-employed persons, and employers should be differentiated from that of regular workers."

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