Legal minimum wage still out of reach for many part-timers


Lee Hyun-mi, a 19-year-old high-school graduate, learnt a bitter lesson when she recently quit working at an ice cream shop. She worked six hours a day during the week for the past three months and was paid a meager 4,000 won ($3.49) per hour.

When she said she wanted to quit, the boss told her that her final month’s pay would be cut in half. The reason, she was told, was that she was caught resting at a table while not attending customers and was more than 10 minutes late for work at least twice.

“My parents told the boss that it was against the law and helped me receive full payment,” said Lee, who lives in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. “I am just glad that it has been settled.”

Both Lee and her parents were not aware that it was not the only violation of labor laws at that ice cream shop.

Hourly pay of 4,000 won is illegal, as it is below 4,580 won, this year’s minimum wage set by law. Lee was also entitled to an extra day’s pay per each week she worked, as the legally-guaranteed weekly holiday allowance.

The ice cream shop may sound like an intolerable work environment, but data suggest it may be the norm facing many young part-timers in Korea.

A survey of nearly 400 college students with part-time work experience found that 78 percent of them experienced some form of labor abuse. 

The largest percentage of the respondents, or 30 percent, said they were made to work longer than the agreed hours. Some 26 percent said wages were delayed and another 22 percent said they were paid lower than what was agreed.

“Many young part-timers have little experience of handling such situations and don’t know how to react. They are helplessly exploited by employers,” said Daehaknaeil, a vernacular campus magazine, which conducted the survey.

Another survey conducted last year showed that 46.5 percent of convenience stores in Seoul were in violation of the minimum wage rule, with their part-time cashiers receiving lower than the legally-set level.

The predicament of young temps appears to be reaching boiling point, as the number of the youth being forced into simple, manual part-time jobs increases amid a prolonged job market slump.

Some are unionizing through a group called Youth Community Union, aiming to better the labor conditions for temps, while representing young job seekers.

“Youth workers who earn just around the minimum wage or below number nearly 1 million, while another 1 million are believed to be without a job at all,” said Han Ji-hye, the group’s chief.

“We need to raise the minimum wage level in order to lift these young people out of poverty and let them start dreaming again.”

Official statistics from the Statistics Korea and the Labor Ministry puts the number of part-time workers in their teens and 20s at 440,000 in 2011, the highest on record.

The number has been on a steady rise over the years, as the local economy produces fewer “decent” jobs for high school and university graduates, officials explain. Also, many students are forced to take part-time jobs because of higher tuition and living costs.

In a highly-publicized campaign last year, the Youth Community Union fought against the country’s major coffee chains, which didn’t bother to pay weekly holiday allowances to their part-time employees.

It led to a special inspection by the labor authorities of 137 franchise coffee shops and resulted in the payment of over 50 million won in total overdue allowances to part-timers.

“Despite the ministry’s inspection last year, many workplaces still violate the minimum wage and many other labor rules,” Han said.

Han’s organization, along with other groups, is trying to make it a political issue in a presidential election year.

Young voters are emerging a key demographic bloc that may determine the face of the country’s next president to be elected in December, political observers said. Conservative ruling Saenuri Party, in particular, is going aggressively after voters in their 20s and 30s, after the parliamentary election in April showed low popularity for the party among the age group.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)