Soaring Food Prices Spark Bargain Hunt
24 July, 2019
Office workers in Seoul are complaining about soaring prices in restaurants as the minimum wage rises.
Staple lunch dishes such as naengmyeon or cold noodles now cost in the mid-W10,000 range, while samgyetang or chicken soup with ginseng costs almost W20,000 a bowl (US$1=W1,180).
According to the Korea Consumer Agency, prices of six out of eight staple lunch dishes favored by office workers had risen by May. Naengmyeon got 12.5 percent more expensive, gimbap or seaweed rice rolls 10 percent and kimchi jjigae or stew 7.24 percent.
One 24-year-old worker in Gangnam said, "I feel like I'm wasting too much money on food." Another office worker in his 50s said, "I have to spend at least W10,000 a meal every lunch, and I'm cutting back on my lunch money so I can spend more on private education for my children."
People wait for a lunchtime table in a budget restaurant in Seoul on July 19.
There are many reasons for the price hikes, but the minimum wage is often cited. One owner of a noodle restaurant in central Seoul said, "I employ a dozen workers and the minimum wage has increased." And a staffer in a restaurant in Yeouido said, "Costs have risen across the board, from wages to ingredients and rent."
The increase comes just as office workers are tightening their belts and creates a vicious cycle for both customers and restaurants.
Employment portal Job Korea polled 1,380 office workers on their lunch spending and found that the average amount was W6,110, down two percent from 2018.
Lunch spending has declined steadily from W6,566 in 2015. A Job Korea staffer said, "That means more and more people are eating in company cafeterias or snacking in convenience stores."
TAG(s):