The nation’s minimum wage has risen at the lowest-ever rate under the incumbent Lee Myung-bak administration, government data showed Tuesday.
According to the data released by the labor ministry, the nominal minimum wage has increased 5 percent on average since 2008 when Lee began his five-year term.
It is half the level seen under the preceding Roh Moo-hyun administration when the minimum wage went up by 10.6 percent, and the lowest since 1988 when South Korea introduced the system, the data showed.
The minimum wage rose 8.1 percent under the 1993-1998 Kim Young-sam government, and by 9 percent during the Kim Dae-jung administration from 1998-2003, according to the data.
The minimum wage for this year is 4,580 won ($4) per hour, and a trilateral council comprised of the government, labor and management agreed last week to raise it by 6.1 percent to 4,860 won for 2013.
“A sharp increase in the minimum wage would weigh on those who run a small-scale business. And instead of focusing only on the sheer numbers, we have to look at other indicators such as real-term wages, economic growth rate and inflation,” a ministry official said, requesting anonymity.
But the current government also ranked the lowest in terms of the real-term minimum wage increase, the data showed. Taking into account the inflation rate of 3.6 percent, the real-term minimum wage went up 1.4 percent from 2008-2011, while it rose 7.7 percent with the inflation rate of 2.9 percent during the Roh government.
The country saw a 5.5-percent and 3.1-percent increase in real-term wages under the former Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam governments, respectively, the data showed.
“The economic growth rate during the Lee government has been
3.1 percent, which is also disappointing compared to 4.3 percent under Roh and 5 percent under Kim Dae-jung administration,” an official of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions said.
“Nearly 3 million people are struggling with low income. We will strongly push for a revision to relevant law to meet the need,” he added. (Yonhap News)
