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| An employee organizes products at a convenience store in Seoul in this May 27 photo. Yonhap |
By Bahk Eun-ji
A large proportion of young adults and children with multicultural backgrounds and work experience here have suffered from unfair treatment, such as salaries that are lower than minimum wage and verbal abuse from employers, a survey showed Thursday.
The Migrant Youth Foundation conducted the survey for one year since September of last year, interviewing 4,078 individuals aged between nine and 24 with multicultural backgrounds, including those born to families consisting of one parent of Korean nationality and another parent of foreign nationality, either here or abroad; and those whose parents are North Korean defectors and were born in North Korea, South Korea or a third country.
Of them, 212 had experience working part-time or full-time jobs. The foundation separately conducted 786 interviews with Korean nationals without multicultural backgrounds for comparison.
According to the survey conducted at the request of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, 25 percent of those born here to at least one parent of foreign nationality said they were paid less than the government-set hourly minimum wage.
The percentage was 21.4 percent for those whose parents were North Korean defectors, and 13.3 percent for those born abroad to one Korean national parent and one parent of another nationality.
These percentages were significantly high compared to the 2.7 percent of children with non-multicultural backgrounds.
When asked if they had been verbally abused by employers or others in workplaces, 23.8 percent of those born abroad with at least one parent of foreign nationality said yes, as well as 13.3 percent of those with parents who are North Korean defectors and 6.7 percent of those born abroad who have one parent of Korean nationality.
More than 9 percent of those born abroad to at least one foreign parent and 7.1 percent of those with North Korean defector parents said they did not even get paid at all. The proportion was only 0.8 percent for those without multicultural backgrounds.
Only 0.9 percent of respondents without multicultural backgrounds said that they were unable to receive treatment for workplace injuries, but the ratio went up to 8.5 percent for those born abroad to at least one parent of foreign nationality and 7.1 percent for those with North Korean defector parents who were born in third countries.
"(Due to inequities they face in this society) People with multicultural backgrounds have relatively lower basic academic ability, and they have a reduced likelihood of landing quality jobs. Society needs measures to help them get quality jobs," a researcher of the foundation said.
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