Poor, Undereducated Workers Feel Brunt of Minimum Wage Hike

Poor and uneducated workers are feeling the brunt of the minimum wage hike, which has backfired by putting many temporary employees out of work altogether.

In the first 10 months of this year after the minimum wage was hiked 16.4 percent, the number of zero-hour contracts grew at the fastest clip ever, while the number of mid- and long-term jobs fell at the biggest rate since the 1998 Asian financial crisis.

According to Statistics Korea on Sunday, the number of people working only one to 17 hours a week grew by 173,000 a month this year, the fastest since the government began tallying statistics in 1980.

In contrast, more stable jobs with working hours of over 36 hours a week plummeted by 801,000 a month this year, the most drastic decline since 1998. Last year, these jobs increased by 421,000.

Poor and uneducated workers were hit especially hard. The number of unemployed people who had only finished middle school or less grew by 21,000 a month on average so far this year, the fastest since 2010. The number of menial jobs they are most likely to land had fallen for seven months in a row, posting a record 93,000 drop last month.

Such jobs include assistants at hair salons and food delivery, which typically require few skills or education.

The figures suggest that a policy designed to help those at the bottom of the income ladder ended up hurting them the most.