Lee Jeong-sik "Labor Reform, National and Era-wide Task... Legislation in the First Half of Next Year"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] On the 16th, Lee Jeongsik, Minister of Employment and Labor, held a breakfast meeting with professors from the Future Labor Market Research Group, who prepared recommendations for labor market reform, reaffirming his commitment to completing labor market reform.

On the same day, Minister Lee met with Kwon Soonwon, chair of the research group and professor at Sookmyung Women's University, at the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, stating, "Labor market reform must be pursued as a national and era-defining task," and "The government will respect the recommendations as much as possible and swiftly proceed with labor market reform."

He added, "We will prepare legislative bills for wage and working hours reform tasks as soon as possible and aim to promote legislation in the first half of next year," and "Additional reform tasks for improving the dual structure will also promptly begin social discussions."

Earlier, after about five months of research and discussion, the research group publicly released on the 12th a recommendation for labor market reform centered on restructuring the working hours system and wage framework.

The research group recommends diversifying the current weekly 52-hour system's management units from 'week' to 'month, quarter, half-year, year.' In this case, it becomes arithmetically possible to work up to 69 hours per week.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to review the research group's recommendations and announce the government's plan for labor market reform by the end of this year or early next year. Minister Lee's position is to largely accept the contents of the recommendations.

Regarding concerns from some quarters that, according to the recommendations, long working hours and wage reductions may occur, Minister Lee rebutted, "If you carefully examine the tasks in the recommendations, various reform tasks for reducing working hours, protecting health rights, and improving labor quality are proposed in a balanced manner."

He continued, "It is very meaningful that the recommendations include measures to prevent the abuse of comprehensive wages, plans for recording and managing working hours, and other tasks that can establish a free and fair labor market that today's youth desire, ensuring fair compensation for actual work done."

Minister Lee stated, "The government will strengthen on-site labor supervision to robustly protect the rights and interests of vulnerable groups such as youth and low-wage workers," and "We will promptly prepare comprehensive measures, including effective labor supervision, to prevent the abuse of comprehensive wages."

Professor Kwon urged, "If we fail to respond urgently to the proposed recommendations and additional tasks, our labor market will lose competitiveness," and "I hope the government empathizes with the urgency of the situation and steadily and consistently pursues the labor market reform tasks proposed by the research group."

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