Seoul City Supports National Pension and Health Insurance for Construction Day Laborers... First Nationwide

Up to 80% Support from the 1st
Youth Under 35 Working 8+ Days with Monthly Income of 2.24 Million Won Eligible

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] Starting from the 1st, Seoul City announced that it will support up to 80% of the social insurance premiums that construction day laborers must pay, based on the number of working days, marking the first such initiative nationwide.

The support targets workers who have worked at least 8 days per month at construction sites commissioned by the city with contracts worth 50 million KRW or more, and who are either ▲ youth under 35 years old or ▲ low-wage workers earning less than 2.24 million KRW per month.

Applying this, a worker earning 2.2 million KRW at a construction site previously had to pay 174,000 KRW out of pocket for national pension and health insurance premiums, but going forward, the city will support up to 80%, or 139,000 KRW, so the worker only needs to pay 35,000 KRW. Last year, among public construction site day laborers, about 3,600 were youths under 35, and about 24,000 were low-wage workers.

Until now, construction day laborers have faced concerns over the collapse of the production base due to a shortage of skilled workers, caused by short continuous monthly work periods, low total wages, and unstable employment, prompting calls for countermeasures. In particular, the national pension and health insurance premiums were a burden for construction day laborers with irregular income, resulting in lower social insurance enrollment rates compared to other industries.

In response, since June last year, the city has been promoting a construction job innovation plan to introduce employment improvement support funds, and in May this year, an ordinance amendment passed the city council, enabling support for social insurance premiums for construction day laborers.

Seoul City plans to invest city funds until 2023, analyze the outcomes, and consider expanding the program.

Additionally, to ensure that this social insurance premium support is linked to transparent management of work history and wage payments, the city has made it a prerequisite to ▲ mandatory use of Seoul City standard contracts ▲ issuance of electronic cards under the electronic workforce management system ▲ mandatory use of the Seoul City Construction Information Management System.

Furthermore, employment improvement incentives will also be paid starting today. This system provides incentives to excellent construction companies that strive for regular employment at construction sites.

Han Jehyun, Director General of Safety at Seoul City, said, "The construction industry has played a leading role in our economic development, but the employment and working conditions of construction day laborers on site remain poor. We will prepare support measures so that they can be guaranteed according to their work and recognized as skilled workers."

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