KB News DeskRevised offers leave W1,540 divide as negotiations likely to stretch into mid-July
Labor and business representatives narrowed their differences over next year’s minimum wage after submitting a second round of revised proposals, but negotiations remained deadlocked with the two sides still 1,540 won ($1) apart.
The labor side proposed raising the hourly minimum wage to 11,900 won, while the employer side offered 10,360 won during the Minimum Wage Commission’s meeting at the government complex in Sejong on Tuesday.
Although the latest proposals narrowed the gap from the initial 1,680 won, they failed to bring the two sides significantly closer to an agreement.
At the outset of this year’s negotiations, the labor side sought a 16.3 percent increase in the minimum wage to 12,000 won per hour from this year’s 10,320 won. Business groups, meanwhile, initially proposed freezing the minimum wage at the current level.
The Minimum Wage Commission, which comprises nine representatives each from labor, management and the public interest, determines the annual minimum wage through negotiations every year.
If labor and management fail to reach a consensus, the commission’s nine public interest members can present a range to expedite deliberations — upper and lower limits within which the two sides are encouraged to negotiate further or proceed to a vote.
The statutory deadline for this year’s deliberations expired on Monday. However, missing the legal deadline does not immediately halt the process, as the commission must still submit its final proposal to the labor minister by mid-July to allow time for the remaining administrative procedures. Given the pace of negotiations, the final agreement is expected to be reached by mid-July.
