Government Revises Special Employment Statistics for Delivery Workers... Labor Statistics Classification Updated for the First Time in 13 Years

New Category 'Dependent Contractors' Added to Middle Area Between Wage Workers and Self-Employed

After Employment Trends and Pilot Surveys
New Classification to Be Applied for Statistics Production in 2025-2026

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The classification of labor relations by Statistics Korea will be revised to enable the aggregation of data on special employment types (SETs) such as delivery riders and door-to-door salespeople.

On the 29th, Statistics Korea announced that it will revise the "Korean Employment Status Classification," which measures the labor relations of employed persons, to reflect the revised classification standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and changes in the domestic labor market, and implement it from next year. This is the first revision of the Korean Employment Status Classification in 13 years.

Statistics Korea has introduced a new category called "dependent contractors," which falls between wage workers and self-employed persons. Dependent contractors provide their labor to others but enter into commercial contracts rather than employment contracts. This category includes special employment types such as delivery workers, door-to-door salespeople, insurance solicitors, and vehicle owners who lease their vehicles (jibun cha-ju).

Additionally, the "wage worker" category has been subdivided into permanent workers, fixed-term (long-term and short-term) workers, short-term and temporary workers, and paid apprentices, trainees, and interns. The "self-employed" category has also been detailed into corporate employers, individual business employers, corporate self-employed without employees, and individual self-employed without employees.

The current classification system has also been significantly revised. The existing system, divided into "non-wage workers (self-employed with employees, self-employed without employees, unpaid family workers)" and "wage workers (regular workers, temporary workers, daily workers)," will be replaced by two classification types based on "economic risk" and "authority of command." These two classification types can be selected and used by institutions according to their analytical purposes.

The economic risk classification distinguishes between "profit-motivated workers" and "wage-motivated workers" based on the economic risks associated with the conditions of performing a job. Those who face financial loss risks or may not receive compensation, such as individual business owners, are profit-motivated workers, while those who receive a fixed monthly salary, like salaried employees, are wage-motivated workers.

Profit-motivated workers include individual business independent workers, dependent contractors, and unpaid family workers, while wage-motivated workers include corporate owners and wage workers. The authority of command classification divides workers into "independent workers" and "dependent workers" based on the nature of control they have in their jobs. Independent workers include employers (with employees) and self-employed persons (without employees), while dependent workers include dependent contractors, wage workers, and unpaid family workers.

The revised classification will be implemented from next year, but the timing of producing statistics using the new classification will be autonomously decided after internal review depending on institutional circumstances. For example, the representative employment statistics, Statistics Korea's Employment Trends, are expected to publish statistics using the new classification around 2025-2026 after pilot surveys, verification, and time series accumulation procedures.

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