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After 40-year battle, young laborers continue struggle for fair wages
It will be 40 years Saturday since Chun Tae-il’s
self-immolation to
express his outrage at the excessive working hours and low wages endured
by young workers, but low wages have been found to be a persistent
presence.
Lee, 33, entered the workforce relatively late in June and is now
working at a small manufacturing company in the Gasan Digital Complex in
Seoul’s Geumcheon District. Lee’s base pay is one million Won ($887)
per month, and even with overtime hours and payment for extra work
included, take-home pay comes out to less than 1.2 million Won.
Employment status is another factor making Lee nervous. A dispatch
worker in July, Lee is currently unaffiliated due to the subcontracting
company’s closure in August.
"My entire monthly savings is 20 thousand Won in
subscription deposits,” Lee said. "Living with all this uncertainty from
day to day, I feel no sense of achievement from my work, and my drive
has vanished.”
The results showed that 61.6 percent of young workers are receiving
wages lower than the 1.95 million Won average for urban workers. Some 51 percent of young workers were found to be struggling with debt.
Of these, 36.6 percent have debts of over 10 million Won. Among those in
their twenties, 34.8 percent are in debt because of student loans, and
residential loans, including loans to cover key deposits, generated debt
for 31 percent.
"The true way to elevate the Republic of Korea’s prestige is to resolve
unemployment among young people and their issues of low wage,
high-intensity labor.”
Source: http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/448559.html |
| Category: Articles | Added by: pizhonka (13.11.2010)
| Author: By Song Chae Kyung-hwa
|
| Views: 422
| Rating: 0.0/0 |
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