▲ Minimum Wage Commission
Next year's minimum wage will be applied uniformly across all industries without distinction.
The Minimum Wage Commission held its seventh plenary session today (June 18) at the Government Complex Sejong to vote on whether to apply next year's minimum wage differentially by industry, but the proposal was rejected after failing to secure a majority of the attending members, with 14 votes against, 11 in favor, and 1 invalid vote.
For this vote, eight out of nine labor commissioners attended,
and a total of 26 members participated, including nine employer commissioners and nine public interest commissioners.
Given that all labor commissioners voted against the proposal, it is interpreted that six public interest commissioners sided with the labor sector's stance.
The commission stated, "As a result of putting the agenda to a vote, it was decided that the minimum wage applicable in 2027 will be uniformly applied across all industries."
Labor and management continued discussions on the differential application of the minimum wage by industry but failed to find common ground.
The employer side argued that a lower minimum wage should be applied to sectors hit hard by the economic downturn, such as the accommodation and food service industries, compared to other industries.
In particular, during the meeting, they proposed a pilot application for three sectors: Korean restaurants, foreign restaurants, and gimbap and other snack restaurants.
The employer side proposed applying half of the general minimum wage increase rate to these sectors, while limiting the gap between industries to a maximum of 10 percent.
However, the labor side opposed the idea, arguing that applying a lower minimum wage to specific industries would institutionalize discrimination against workers.
The labor side claimed that differential application could entrench discrimination against female and young workers, and that lowering wages would not increase jobs but rather generate low-quality employment.
Furthermore, they emphasized that in a survey on management difficulties faced by small business owners, "intensifying industry competition" ranked first (61.0 percent), while "minimum wage" ranked only fifth (17.5 percent), urging not to blame structural issues such as intensifying competition and commercial district decline on the minimum wage.
It is reported that public interest commissioners also pointed out that under a national minimum wage system, overseas cases of applying industry-specific differentials below the baseline are rare, and verifying their effectiveness is difficult.
Although the differential application of the minimum wage by industry is a highly contentious issue between labor and management every year, it has never been put into actual practice.
While industry-specific application is legally permissible and was temporarily implemented in 1988, the first year the system was introduced,
a single nationwide minimum wage system has been maintained since 1989 due to opposition from the labor sector.
As the introduction of the system fell through following the vote, the discussion has once again been postponed to next year's Minimum Wage Commission.
The eighth plenary session of the Minimum Wage Commission is scheduled to be held at 3 p.m. on June 23.
On this day, discussions on the actual level of next year's minimum wage will begin in earnest.
Earlier, the labor sector presented its initial proposal for the minimum wage, demanding an hourly rate of 12,000 won and a monthly salary of 2,508,000 won (based on 209 hours per month), which is a 16.3 percent increase from this year.
Although the business community has not yet announced its initial proposal, it is expected to suggest a freeze or a low-level increase, citing the difficulties of small business owners.
The statutory deadline for the minimum wage deliberations is the end of June, which is 90 days after receiving the request for deliberation from the Minister of Employment and Labor.
Even if the deadline is missed, the commission must submit its minimum wage proposal to the labor minister by mid-July, taking into account the remaining administrative procedures.
Following this, the labor minister must finalize and officially announce the minimum wage by August 5.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.