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| Members of the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise and other associations and federations representing the self-employed and small business owners hold a rally in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, Wednesday, to denounce the government's minimum wage hike. / Yonhap |
By Nam Hyun-woo
Nearly 30,000 small business owners and self-employed people staged a rally Wednesday to protest the country's minimum wage hike, and called for a slowdown in the state-led increases in the baseline income.
An umbrella group comprised of the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise (KFME), the Korea Food Service Industry Association and 80 affiliated small business owners' groups from various industries held the rally in Gwanghwamun and denounced the government for the hike which they said was "killing" them.
"The minimum wage has soared 29 percent over the past two years and the rally is an expression of micro enterprise owners' anger over the hike," a KFME official said. The group said the business owners closed their shops to join the protest.
"The Minimum Wage Council decided to raise next year's minimum wage despite calls from small business owners for a differentiated application of the hike. The rally is about leveling an uneven playing field."
Under the Moon Jae-in administration, the government has been accelerating increases in the statutory minimum wage to accomplish the President's pledge to raise it to 10,000 won an hour by 2020.
From 2015 to 2017, the per hour minimum wage rose by approximately 450 won every year, but it sharply grew this year to stand at 7,530 won, up 16.4 percent from 6,470 won in 2017. The Minimum Wage Council set next year's minimum at 8,350 won, up 10.9 percent from this year, weighing on small businesses whose personnel costs account for a large portion of their expenses.
In response, the protest group was set up last month and has been calling for the government to differentiate its application of the minimum wage for small businesses with less than five employees, and to allow the group to recommend its own representatives for the Minimum Wage Council so their opinion can be better reflected in deciding minimum pay.
"Not only part-timers but also small business owners should be protected," said Choi Young-tak, a "PC" room owner in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, who participated in the rally. "We are not capitalists exploiting part-timers; we are also desperate too."
"We are not opposing the entire minimum wage hike or trying to trigger a conflict with employees," Choi Yoon-shik, head of the Cooperative of Internet Content Providers in Korea, said in a statement. "What we are asking for is a fundamental solution that can help small business owners survive."
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