Seoul City to Provide National Pension and Health Insurance Support for Construction Day Laborers

From the 1st, up to 80% support for National Pension and Health Insurance contributions for construction day laborers using city funds
Targeting workers under 35 years old and earning less than 2.24 million KRW per month who worked 8 days or more at Seoul city construction sites

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that starting from the 1st, it will support up to 80% of social insurance premiums such as National Pension and Health Insurance that construction day laborers must pay, based on the number of working days.

To enroll in the National Pension and Health Insurance, a personal contribution of 7.93% is required. Since construction day laborers have irregular income, even this amount is a burden, resulting in a lower social insurance enrollment rate compared to other industries.

So far, construction day laborers have had short consecutive monthly work periods, low total wages, and unstable employment, making it difficult for young people to enter the field, while aging has intensified. Concerns about the collapse of the construction industry's production base, such as a high industrial accident rate due to a shortage of skilled workers, have increased, prompting the need for countermeasures.

The support targets are young workers under 35 years old who have worked at least 8 days per month at construction sites commissioned by Seoul with contracts over 50 million KRW, or low-wage workers earning less than 2.24 million KRW per month. Seoul plans to invest city funds until 2023, analyze the results, and then consider expanding the program.

For example, a worker earning 2.2 million KRW at a construction site previously had to pay 174,000 KRW for National Pension and Health Insurance premiums, but going forward, the city will support 80% of this amount, 139,000 KRW, so the worker only needs to pay 35,000 KRW.

Seoul analyzed public construction sites in the city last year and found that there were about 3,600 young workers under 35 and about 24,000 workers earning less than 2.24 million KRW per month. The plan is to encourage the influx of young workers and long-term employment at construction sites through this support.

Seoul decided to provide this social insurance premium support on the condition that it is linked to work history management and wage payment transparency, requiring the mandatory use of the Seoul construction day laborer standard contract, issuance of electronic cards under the electronic manpower management system, and mandatory use of the Seoul Construction Information Management System (One-PMIS).

Meanwhile, to improve the actual employment of construction day laborers, Seoul will also provide an incentive-type ‘Employment Improvement Grant’ starting from the 1st to excellent construction companies that strive for regular employment at construction sites.

Han Je-hyun, Director of the Seoul Safety General Office, 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 construction day laborers can be guaranteed according to their work, be recognized as skilled workers, and have jobs that offer employment stability and a future vision as a profession.”

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