Ruling Party, Government, and Blue House to Invest 1.8 Trillion Won to Protect Essential Workers Including Delivery Personnel

Expansion of Essential Workers Scope and Promotion of Abolition of Exclusivity Criteria for Industrial Accident Insurance Enrollment
Consensus on Expanding Parcel Sorting Infrastructure

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] The Democratic Party of Korea, the government, and the Blue House decided on the 12th to invest a budget of 1.8 trillion won to protect and support essential workers, including delivery workers. They plan to expand the scope of essential workers and abolish the exclusivity criteria for special employment workers' industrial accident insurance enrollment.

The party, government, and Blue House held a meeting at the National Assembly that morning to discuss these measures. Kim Tae-nyeon, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, said in his opening remarks, "The Democratic Party and the government are preparing substantial measures to protect and support essential workers by allocating a budget of 1.8 trillion won next year."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Han Jeong-ae, the chairperson of the Democratic Party's Policy Committee, said after the meeting, "The party, government, and Blue House shared the recognition that to expand nationwide employment insurance, it is necessary to promptly grasp income information of various types of workers, including special employment workers and freelancers, beyond traditional wage workers." The plan to establish an income tracking system will be reflected in the roadmap to eliminate blind spots in employment insurance by the end of December after further discussions among the party, government, and Blue House.

The scope of essential workers will also be expanded compared to the first measures announced by the government on the 6th of last month. Chairperson Han stated, "We have decided to newly prepare protection measures by occupation. Care workers and daeri drivers will also be newly added." The party, government, and Blue House agreed to improve systems tailored to occupational difficulties, such as reducing insurance premium burdens caused by overlapping insurance enrollment for daeri drivers.

The party, government, and Blue House will actively promote the abolition of the exclusivity criteria for industrial accident insurance under nationwide employment insurance application to strengthen the safety net for essential workers. Under current law, the exclusivity criteria apply to special employment workers' industrial accident insurance, making it difficult for special employment workers who provide labor to multiple companies to enroll in industrial accident insurance.

Regarding the improvement of delivery workers' treatment, there was a consensus on the need to improve delivery transactions, price structures, and expand infrastructure. Chairperson Han said, "It is necessary to expand delivery infrastructure that can shorten sorting and delivery times," and added, "We will revise labor-related laws to enable work in appropriate environments while expanding the application of industrial accident insurance and employment insurance." She also emphasized the passage of the Living Logistics Service Industry Development Act, a law protecting delivery workers, within the regular National Assembly session.

Lee Jae-gap, Minister of Employment and Labor, is scheduled to hold a briefing at the Government Seoul Office in the afternoon to announce measures to prevent overwork among delivery workers.

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