Minimum Wage for 2013 in South Korea

Source: OECD Minimum Wage Database

The Minimum Wage Act was implemented in 1988 and has applied to all workers since November 2000 except family businesses that hire only family members, domestic workers and seamen. There is one unified national statutory minimum wage. For security guards and other intermittent workers, a sub-minimum rate of 90% is applied. This figure is adjusted annually. 

In Korea the minimum wage is determined by the Ministry of Employment and Labour (MOEL) based on recommendations from the Minimum Wage Council, an institution set up to deliberate on the minimum wage. The council is a kind of tripartite body which is composed of representatives from labour, management and public interest (mainly academics). 

The minimum hourly wage for 2012 is 4,580 won, about 4 US dollars. Yonhap, the official news agency in Korea reported that a trilateral council on Saturday agreed to raise the country's minimum wage by 6.1 percent to 4,860 won ($4.24) per hour next year.

Representatives of the Minimum Wage Council reached the deal in a 10-8 vote with 9 abstentions at the end of overnight negotiations, the council said.

The decision will increase the monthly salary of those who work 40 hours a week to 1.02 million won ($889), according to the council. It is expected to benefit roughly 2.58 million workers in the country struggling with low income, it added.

Initially, the labor circle demanded a 22.3 percent increase from this year's 4,580 won, while the management proposed a 3.4 percent hike.

Eight of the council's nine members representing employers abstained from voting after the government representatives of the 27-member council proposed a hike of minimum 5.5 percent and maximum 6.7 percent.

Employers quickly expressed their dismay with the decision.

"We cannot help but express grave concerns over the decision, which lacks any consideration for the country's small and medium-sized businesses that are struggling against worsening economic conditions and rising costs," the Korea Employers Federation said in a released statement.

The employers' group claimed the minimum wage hike will cost an additional 1.4 trillion won a year for all businesses with more than 30 employees.

"Such a steep rise of the minimum wage despite worsening economic conditions will hamper business activities by small and medium-sized enterprises, which in turn will seriously threaten job opportunities for the poor," it said.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor is scheduled to fix the minimum wage by Aug. 5 after announcing details of the agreement next week. (Yonhap)

It is said that  19,518 cases of violation of the Minimum Wage Act were found in 2011, only 11 cases were brought into legal proceedings. Most of them were concluded with minor, if not symbolic, punitive measures such as the administrative request for ‘correction measures’. The penalty is so low that violating the law is often cheaper than compliance.

Source: Korea Times and Yonhap

Minimum Wage in South Korea

In an article Prof.Bang Joon-shik, of Youngsan University Law School noted that 'Minimum Wage Council' failed to come up with a minimum wage for the year 2012. He came up with a few suggestions as to why the reform in the current system is required and the reasons why, he support a slightly different approach which is borrowed from Japan and the US. His insightful artcile can be read here in detail.
2011's minimum wage was set at 4,320 KRW (4$) per hour.
One can visit the Ministry of Labor and Employment website to get the latest updates!

To settle a minimum wage issue has always been a hot issue since it has considerable influence on the overall employment market and domestic economy. Last year, after an intense tug-of-war, the hourly minimum wage was set at 4,320 won, up about 5.1 percent rise from the previous year’s 4,110 won. Employers are calling for a 30 won raise from this year’s 4,320 won ($4) per hour and workers are demanding a 1,000 won (1$) hike. The amount applies to all workplaces hiring more than one employee. Those who pay below the minimum wage face penalties of either up to three-year imprisonment or up to 20 million won (20,000 USD) fine.

NOTE:
As of July 13, 2011 - a 6% increase in minimum wage has been finalized. For details read here.

Update: Minimum Wage to Rise 6% in 2012

Government, labor and management representatives have agreed to set the country’s hourly minimum wage at 4,580 won ($4.3) in 2012, up 260 won, or 6 percent, from this year, reported Korea Times.

The agreement came after many months of wrangling.

Earlier, I wrote about it here!

The iPod Index

For the first time, a non-food product was used in the study (conducted by the UBS) to compare working hours. The iPod nano with 8 GB of storage is an ideal example of a globally uniform product. An average wage-earner in Zurich and New York can buy a nano from an Apple store after nine hours of work. At the other end of the spectrum, workers in Mumbai, need to work 177 hours – roughly the equivalent of one month's salary – to purchase an iPod nano. For that matter, here in Seoul it will take 22 hours where as in Tokyo 12 hours. In Pakistan, we don't have an Apple Store.:D

The iPod--Index probably provides a truer and easy to understand indication as to the cost of living across the world. It measure how many hours people in various cities have to work to be able to afford Apple's MP3 player from an Apple's store.

In the survey, New York is used as the base city for the index and scores 100 points, all cities are compared against New York and currency movements are measured against the US dollar.

South Korean Choco Pie in North Korea

Source

Some North Koreans have been shelling out up to a fifth of the average monthly income for a single chocolate snack, it's claimed.

Supplies of Choco Pie, a Wagon Wheel-style chocolate, biscuit and marshmallow snack, dried up earlier this year when Pyongyang closed Kaesong Industrial Complex - a collaborative venture between the two nations - amid heightened tensions in the region. The industrial zone's 35,000 workers had been receiving Choco Pies in their lunchboxes from their South Korean employers, and many sold them on the black market as a means of supplementing their income. Once supplies were disrupted, they ended up changing hands for 3,000 ($23 or £14), according to the Daily NK website. There are no accurate average wage statistics for North Korea but analysts estimate per capita income at between $1,000 and $2,000 per year.

Pyongyang seemingly launched a copycat version but people reportedly complained they were too sweet. With Kaesong's recent re-opening, the snack's black market value plummeted, and they're now reportedly selling for 500 won (about $4; £2.50). However, it's not all good news. Southern employers, citing the losses they've taken due to the plant's enforced closure, have taken the opportunity to slash the number of Choco Pies they hand out, Daily NK reports.

I think even for a regular vistor in Seoul, Choco Pies is a replacemnet of a souvenier from Korea. A good gift to give to friend and family.

New Rules for Pet Owners in Korea (2013)

Starting in 2013, a new pet dog registration system will be implemented under which pet dogs will be given identification numbers and pet owners will have to register their dogs and buy ID chips or tags for them for 10,000 won ~ 20,000 won. Among other advantages, this system will enable pet owners to find lost dogs more easily.

According to an announcement by the municipal government, pet dogs more than three months old must be registered starting from January 2013, as stipulated under the revised Animal Protection Act (Aug. 4, 2011). The law aims to enhance pet owners’ responsibility while facilitating the recovery of lost pets. A similar system of pet dog registration has been implemented in a number of countries overseas including the U.S., Japan, Australia and Taiwan.

Currently, more than 16,000 dogs get lost each year in Seoul. Owners suffer mental distress while the administration has to spend an increasing amount of money trying to recover them.

Pets can be registered at animal clinics designated by district offices. (See the district office websites for the list of the hospitals.)

Being a pet owner myself, it is very important to get updates on new rules or policies in the country of residence.

One such rule that's been floating around for owners is to visit their pet clinics alongwith pets, fill out an application form and buy one of the three ID chips/tags recognized by the Korea.

Each pet dog must have one of the following: an embedded electronic chip, an electronic tag, or an ordinary dog tag, at a price of 20,000 won, 15,000 won and 10,000 won, respectively.

Guide dogs or adopted stray dogs may be registered free.

A 50% deduction is offered for dogs with embedded electronic chips, dogs owned by people on the minimum wage or income, or neutered dogs.

Failure to register a pet dog will incur a penalty of up to 1 million won under the Animal Protection Act.  However, the first half of 2013 will be an amnesty period during which the penalty will not be charged. For further details, please contact the Animal Protection Division of Seoul City Administration at+82-2-2133-7656.

Migrant Centers Across Korea

Korea takes pride in calling itself a monoethnic country...but things are changing fast. In the past 30 years, there is a slow but constant increase in the number of foreigners in the country. At the moment, almost 2 percent of the entire population is foreign born which stands at a modest 1.6 million. More than 55 percent of the entire foreigners are the migrant workers - doing the 3D jobs in Korea.

Korea does not allow immigration into the country and the new trends of marrying foreigners is tackled with an agenda of integration rather than assimilation. According to a latest research, a very high percentage of Korean men are marrying foreign women mostly from China, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Russia, Mongolia and the US.

There are about 36 migrant centers in Seoul and its satellite cities to cater to the needs of the migrants. Over the past decade, besides the 'The Immigration Control Act', Korea has come up with several other laws specifically meant for foreigners and they include:

1. Act on the Treatment of Foreigners in Korea.
2. Act on Foreign Workers' Employment, etc.
3. Support for Multicultural Families Act.
4. Act on the Immigration and Legal Status of Overseas Koreans.
5. Basic Law on Social Security (applied to those who are married to Koreans and
obtained Korean nationality and the offspring of such marriage).

These are some of the major laws that are all available online in English.
Migrant workers both skilled and unskilled falls under a few more laws such as The Labor Standard Act, Minimum Wage Act, and so on. It is mportant to know them because the ignorance of law is no excuse!

Jobs for Pakistanis in South Korea (EPS Workers)

First of all, click HERE  (official website of Korea to hire unskilled workers through EPS) and then HERE (news article in a leading Pakistani news paper)!

I have often been asked on how to get a job in Korea - it depends on many factors but first and foremost, one's country of origin, Korean language proficiency and then their educational background.

Everybody would have heard of teaching positions in Korea but almost all sorts of jobs are there and yes, it's competitive and there are limitations. 

Pakistan is among one of the 15 countries from where low skilled or unskilled workers are hired under Employment Permit System aka EPS to work in South Korea in small and medium sized industries in sectors such as livestock, agriculture, fishery, construction, etc. Applicants must fulfill the following conditions according to the EPS website:

• Person aged between 18 and 40
• Person who passed EPS-TOPIK
• Person who fits for medical checkup decided by Korean government
• Person with no criminal record in relation to serious offence punishable by imprisonment
• Person who does not have previous record of deportation/eviction order from Korea
• Submit Job application form and necessary documents within the valid term of EPS-TOPIK (2 years)
  ※ If valid term of EPS-TOPIK(2 years)　has expired,　candidate shall pass EPS-TOPIK again.

Every year, a quota is set by the Ministry of Labor (MOL) Korea, to import these EPS workers. This quota is further distributed among EPS member countries with respect to the percentage of illegal workers from that respective country. If illegal workers ratio is high , lesser workers are imported and if the ration is low then higher number of workers are imported. Hence, one MUST return to their native country.The returnees can always apply again and usually are preferred over the new workers.

Minimum wage per hour for 2014 is set for about 5USD per hour or 5,210 won per hour. Under the Labor Standard Act of Korea, all workers are eligible to get this amount irrespective of their nationality.Moreover, all workers are eligible for 4 major kind of insurances once they enter through EPS, More on this: click HERE.

Job seekers for Korea must reply on EPS website, HRD Korea and Overseas Employment Corporation only. No  other agency or person can help you get the job. If anybody claims - report them to police and do NOT give money to anybody for seeking jobs. Such people are FRAUD!

Korea has MOU with the following countries:
Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, China, Cambodia,Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Timor-Leste. 



Sources
https://www.eps.go.kr/ph/index.html

http://www.minimumwage.go.kr/eng/sub04.html

http://www.helloeps.com/tvrkmwbyjwesgxjqrcr8/

http://www.moel.go.kr/english/main.jsp

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/afcdefd4-1c1c-11e3-b678-00144feab7de.html#axzz38Nz0fhDX