87.1% of Small Business Owners... "Minimum Wage Should Be Frozen or Lowered Next Year"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwak Min-jae] A survey revealed that 9 out of 10 small business owners hope for the minimum wage to be frozen or lowered next year.

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz) announced the results of the "2023 Small Business Minimum Wage Impact Survey" on the 20th. The survey was conducted online from the 31st of last month to the 7th of this month, targeting 1,105 small business owners working in various industries such as retail, accommodation and food services, manufacturing, education services, and others.

Compared to before COVID-19, the current business and employment conditions were reported as "significantly worsened (53.7%)" and "somewhat worsened (30.0%)," totaling 83.7%. A considerable number of small business owners felt burdened by the current minimum wage. "Very burdensome (60.7%)" and "burdensome (24.0%)" accounted for 84.7%.

Regarding next year's (2023) minimum wage, 87.1% of small business owners expressed a preference for "reduction (48.2%)" or "freeze (38.9%)." The employment status of businesses showed a high proportion of "1 to 2 employees (31.7%)" and "family workers (31.0%)."

On the necessity of differentiated minimum wage application, 86.2% of respondents answered "necessary." There was a difference in employment change plans before and after differentiated application. Before differentiation, 43.2% responded that they would "maintain the current number of employees," which increased to 51.5% after differentiation, a rise of 8.3%. Responses for "additional hiring" in the same category increased from 12.7% (before differentiation) to 30.4% (after differentiation), a 17.7% increase.

In other policy surveys, financial compensation measures that could offset the minimum wage increase rate were found necessary, such as expanded employment stability support funds (56.7%) and tax reduction benefits (50.3%) when applying a single minimum wage.

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