Ruling party, gov’t to upgrade status of temporary workers in public sector

The government and the ruling party are pushing to upgrade the status of temporary workers in the public sector to indefinite contract positions and increase their welfare benefits and incentives as part of efforts to improve job stability amid the economic crunch, the party's policymaker said Monday.

In a policy coordination meeting, Rep. Lee Joo-young, chief policymaker of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP), and Labor Minister Lee Cha-pel agreed to push for elevating the status of temporary employees with more than two years of working at government agencies and state-run companies to indefinite contract terms, a status equivalent to that of regular workers.

The GNP's policymaker said the party asked the government to begin implementing the new system from next year along with a package of benefits, including wage increase, expanded welfare programs and incentives to reduce discrimination in work places and increase job security.

If adopted, the measure is expected to benefit about 97,000 out of 341,000 workers, he said.

The move is the latest in a series of government measures aimed at improving people's livelihoods, including expanded government spending on welfare programs and withdrawal of additional tax cuts for high earners and big businesses, ahead of the general elections in April next year.

South Korea suffered a squeeze on the number of permanent employees in the wake of 1997-98 Asian financial crisis that drove more firms to increase cheaper contract hiring. The trend aggravated when a new labor law went into effect in 2009 that requires employers to add any temporary workers who have worked for more than two years to the permanent work force.

The measure was meant to protect the growing number of non-regular workers, but ultimately led to worse job security for them as many companies opted to terminate contracts with those who were nearing the two-year limit instead of elevating them to regular status. (Yonhap)