Small shops pressured over rising minimum wage

By Lee Kyung-min

Small restaurants that hire young minimum wage workers for home delivery services raised concerns, Friday, claiming the Moon Jae-in administration’s labor reform policies “fail to reflect reality.”

Small restaurants say while large franchised restaurants could raise food prices easily to offset the increased labor costs, they are unable to do so as their customers are much more sensitive even to small price hikes.

“We understand the government’s measure is seeking to protect young workers, but some of the measures are too drastic for us to bear,” a fried chicken restaurant owner said.

Under the measures, workers that continue to work for more than three months are guaranteed severance pay, a measure that applies the government’s unemployment insurance policy.

It also states the government will pay unpaid workers first and file a suit later to recover tax money from employers that fail to pay wages on time.