Spat over irregular jobs
The new administration and the governing party have been lashing out at large companies over the matter of converting irregular jobs into permanent ones.
On Friday, President Moon Jae-in expressed regret over the Korea Employers Federation’s (KEF) criticism of his job policy through his spokesman, saying, “The organization of employers should reflect earnestly as one of the key players that created our social polarization.”
Moon’s comment followed the organization’s Vice Chairman Kim Young-bae’s remarks at a forum in Seoul the day before. “Our society needs to eliminate unreasonable discrimination and protect working conditions. But it’s unrealistic to claim that all temporary jobs are bad without due consideration of circumstances of the individual company and worker,” Kim said.
Kim Jin-pyo, head of the Advisory Committee for State Affairs Planning that serves as Moon’s de facto transition committee, also attacked the KEF, along with other ruling party officials.
What is worrisome first after seeing the latest brouhaha is that the ruling camp might be trying to tame businesses, contrary to the new leader’s much-touted profes- sion to honor healthy criticism and communication.
Tackling the wide wage gap between regular and irregular workers is long overdue. The problem is that this cannot be solved by merely forcing large conglomerates, known as chaebol, to switch contract jobs into full-time regular positions. That’s because nearly 95 percent of the country’s 6.5 million irregular workers are working for small- and medium-sized companies. This means that the problems associated with irregular jobs have much to do with smaller companies.
The point at this juncture is to figure out why the number of irregular jobs has skyrocketed. And the answer is simple: Companies have shunned hiring regular workers owing to the absence of labor market flexibility.
To ease this structural problem, the previous governments have pushed ahead with labor reform to make both employment and dismissal easier. But such efforts have failed as a whole because of partisan wrangling.
It’s tempting to compel businesses — public and private alike — to hire more regular workers to produce results soon. But patching the matter up without addressing the fundamental problem is bound to fail.