Labor, Businesses Agree 2.9% Minimum Wage Hike
13 July, 2019
Business leaders and labor representatives on Thursday compromised on increasing the minimum wage by just 2.9 percent next year to W8,590 an hour (US$1=W1,175).
That is a much smaller hike than last year's and this year's problematic increases of 16.4 percent and 10.9 percent, which have led to layoffs in many small businesses, and takes the depressed economy into account.
President Moon Jae-in vowed in his election campaign to raise the minimum wage to W10,000 by 2020 but signaled a climbdown amid the prolonged slump and tepid job growth.
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