Public Sector Wage Increase Announced

Out of 311,666 non-regular workers in the public sector, 54,000 employees will be granted the status of regular workers by the end of next year. The wage level of unskilled employees, including cleaners and guardians, will increase to the average level of the private sector.

The government and ruling Uri Party on August 8 held a party consultation with Kim

Han-gil, the floor leader and Lee Sang-soo, the minister of the labor, and finalized comprehensive measures to regularize non-regular workers in the public sector.

Lee said after the meeting, “Subject to this legislation are full-time employees with over a year’s contract and those who consistently renew their contracts.”

The government and the ruling party plan to finalize this comprehensive measure by end of 2007 after deciding the scale and target of this initiative through close consultation with relevant ministries by May 2007.

The target of this measure is understood to largely include cleaners in local government organizations, chefs at schools, officials in public welfare institutions and road-menders.

This policy also involves an increase in the wage of the unskilled, a rise in the unit cost of dispatched workers and the regularization of survey to reduce the employment of non-regular workers. The ruling party and government forecast that implementing it would cost the government budget up to 275.1 billion won, including 115.2 billion won to grant regular status to non-regular employees, 128.9 billion won to raise wages of unskilled workers and 31 billion won to protect dispatched workers.

Both the business and labor circles strongly oppose this measure. Business leaders have responded against it, saying, “It is only an opportunistic idea to easily tackle non-regular issues with taxes. It should not be applied to the private sector.” The labor unions have also denounced it as a sort of face-saving gesture.

libra@donga.com