[Exclusive] Minimum Wage Not Even Upheld by Government... Polling Staff Hourly Wage 7,143 Won

Budget Allocated Below Minimum Wage Ahead of Presidential Election
Burden on Companies, Government Turns a Blind Eye

The photo is not related to specific expressions in the article. [Photo source=Getty Images Bank]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] It has been confirmed that the wages of election staff involved in vote counting and polling for next year’s presidential election fall below the minimum hourly wage. Despite the government sharply raising the minimum wage amid opposition from business circles and small business owners, an ironic situation has emerged where the government itself fails to reflect the increase in wages for the temporary workers it directly employs. Critics argue that the government’s enforcement of minimum wage standards only on companies, while failing to uphold them itself, is a case of “double standards.”

According to the '2022 Budget Plan' released on the 8th, the daily allowance for staff handling vote counting and polling duties in next year’s presidential election is set at 100,000 KRW. Meal expenses of 21,000 KRW are paid separately. Considering that the average working hours for election staff is 14 hours, this amounts to an hourly wage of 7,143 KRW.

This is 2,017 KRW lower than the 2022 minimum wage of 9,160 KRW announced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. In terms of daily wages, this means receiving 28,240 KRW less. Even including meal expenses, the hourly wage is 8,642 KRW, which is below this year’s minimum wage of 8,720 KRW. The total budget for managing next year’s presidential election is 260 billion KRW, of which 35.1 billion KRW is allocated for daily wages.

The gap between the minimum wage and the set salary has widened compared to the previous presidential election in 2017. At that time, the hourly wage for election staff was 5,714 KRW, which was 756 KRW less than the minimum wage of 6,470 KRW. Over five years, the gap has increased by more than 2,000 KRW.

This is closely related to the sharp rise in the minimum wage during the Moon Jae-in administration. To fulfill the pledge of a 10,000 KRW minimum wage, the government raised it by more than 26% in the first and second years after taking office, and despite a contraction last year, increased the minimum wage by 1.5% this year and by 5.1% next year compared to this year.

This means the pace of minimum wage increases is too fast for the budget to support. The Ministry of Economy and Finance, which prepares the budget, also did not increase the budget, citing the reason that it cannot fully adjust all unit costs at once. A representative from the National Election Commission stated, "We requested a unit cost adjustment, but the government did not increase the budget, citing difficulties in the national treasury and lack of fiscal capacity."

Professor Kim Taegi of Dankook University’s Department of Economics pointed out, "It is unreasonable to impose compliance and penalties on the private sector when the government itself cannot uphold the minimum wage standards it has set."

The declining fiscal capacity to pay wages that meet the minimum wage is also a problem. The deterioration of fiscal soundness due to habitual supplementary budgets and maintaining an expansionary fiscal policy has boomeranged. The national debt increase under the current administration from 2017 to 2022 reached 408.1 trillion KRW. This is about 57 trillion KRW larger than the total national debt increase of 351.2 trillion KRW during the combined nine years of the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations.

There are also concerns that it will become even more difficult to recruit personnel ahead of next year’s presidential election. A National Election Commission official said, "Because wages do not reach the minimum wage level, the job is increasingly being avoided," adding, "It will be even more difficult to recruit election-related personnel for next year’s election." The commission recruits workers for vote counting and polling, distribution of election brochures, and street posters every election. Typically, city, county, and district election commissions request cooperation from related institutions to recruit civil servants, teachers, bank employees, and the general public, but it is not easy to find personnel. This is because wages fall below the minimum wage and recently, measures such as criminal charges have been taken in relation to involvement in election fraud."

Professor Kim Sangbong of Hansung University’s Department of Economics noted, "The rapid rise in the minimum wage has increased the burden of operating expenses," adding, "This inevitably affects fiscal soundness as well."

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