Presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in on Monday promised to increase the minimum wage of workers while working to improve their working conditions and job security.
Marking the Labor Day, the presidential candidate of the liberal Democratic Party reiterated his earlier pledge to raise the minimum wage to 10,000 won ($8.77) an hour by 2020. The minimum wage currently stands at 6,470 won an hour.
Presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in (on stage) waves to his supporters while staging an election campaign in Seoul's college district of Shinchon on April 30, 2017 as part of his nationwide stumping tour. (Yonhap)
"I will build a country where those who work need not worry about poverty," Moon wrote in a Facebook post.
The liberal candidate noted Asia's fourth-largest economy had the largest gap between the wages of male and female workers among OECD countries and the fifth largest number of non-regular workers.
"I will come up with long-term plans to lower the ratio of irregular workers, which stood at 32 percent of all workers here in 2016, to the OECD average," he said.
Moon did not elaborate but his earlier pledges included a full state sponsorship of every third full-time worker hired by a small and medium-sized firm for up to three years.
He has also promised to create 810,000 new jobs in the public sector during his five-year term if elected.
"I will work to switch irregular work posts in the government and the public sector into full-time openings, and also introduce a new system to limit the type of jobs that can hire irregular workers," Moon wrote, according to a copy of his Facebook post released Monday by his party.
"We are all workers. Our parents were and our children will be. A country where workers are well off is the best country to live in," he said. Presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in on Monday promised to increase the minimum wage of workers while working to improve their working conditions and job security. (Yonhap)