7 out of 10 Young Job Seekers Say "Minimum Wage Should Be Frozen or Lowered Next Year"

63.8% of Job Seekers Hope for Minimum Wage Freeze or Reduction Next Year
Majority Experienced Employment Difficulties Due to COVID-19... 97.6% of Those in Their 20s
6 out of 10 Say "Minimum Wage Increase Affects Employment Challenges"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Junhyung] Among job seekers in their 20s, 7 out of 10 (67.3%) hope that next year's minimum wage will be frozen at this year's level or lowered, according to a survey.

The Korea Federation of SMEs announced on the 16th that the results came from a 'Job Seekers' Opinions on Minimum Wage' survey conducted on 700 job seekers from the 28th of last month to the 3rd of this month.

Job seekers' opinions on the level of increase or decrease in next year's minimum wage.
[Photo by Korea Federation of SMEs]

According to the survey, 63.8% of all job seekers responded that next year's minimum wage should be the same or lower than this year. This figure is higher than the 57.1% response rate with the same opinion from a survey of SMEs announced by the Federation last month.

More than 9 out of 10 job seekers (93.5%) said they feel the difficulty of finding a job due to COVID-19. Among those in their 20s, 97.6% responded that 'finding a job is difficult,' which was higher compared to other age groups.

The perceived severity of employment difficulties due to COVID-19.
[Photo by Korea Federation of SMEs]

Regarding the timing of the job market recovery, 37.7% answered that it would be difficult for a long time, which was the highest response. This was followed by 'recovery within the second half of next year' (25.5%) and 'recovery within the first half of next year' (23.8%).

Additionally, 64.3% of job seekers said that the minimum wage increase has directly or indirectly caused reduced working hours or difficulties in finding jobs. Among those in their 20s, the figure was higher than average at 73.2%. Eighty percent of job seekers predicted that next year's minimum wage increase would affect job reduction.

The most urgent labor policy was identified as 'job expansion' (68%). This was followed by 'wage increase' (13.2%), 'reduction of working hours' (10.4%), and 'expansion of welfare such as vacations' (7.4%).

Lee Taehee, Head of the Smart Job Division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, "The results of this survey clearly show the difficult situation of job seekers," adding, "Since the minimum wage has a very significant impact on jobs and our economy, next year's minimum wage should be discussed at a level that allows SMEs to recover normal business activities and have the capacity to create jobs."

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