Small Business Administration Holds Meeting with Small Business Sector on Minimum Wage
Discussion after listening to the difficulties of 13 small business organizations

Recently, regarding the Jobs Committee's plan to raise the minimum wage to 10,000 won by 2020, the small business sector is complaining that business operations will become very difficult due to the increased labor costs they will have to bear.

Accordingly, the Small and Medium Business Administration (Administrator Joo Young-seop) held a meeting with the small business sector regarding the minimum wage increase at the Korea Federation of Small Business in Seoul on the 5th.

On the 5th, a meeting regarding the minimum wage increase was held at the Korea Federation of Small Business in Seoul. Kwon Dae-soo, Director General of the Small Business Policy Bureau, and Choi Seung-jae, President of the Korea Federation of Small Business, are the second from the left in the back row of the photo.

This meeting was organized to listen to difficulties and hold discussions by inviting representatives from 13 small business organizations, including the Korea Gas Station Association and the Korea Confectionery Association, at a time when the Minimum Wage Commission is beginning full-scale discussions on next year's minimum wage.

Meanwhile, small business owners have been arguing for a phased, small increase, claiming that raising the minimum wage to 10,000 won is too harsh a policy that further exacerbates their vulnerable profit structure amidst excessive startups and fierce competition. It is expected that the management difficulties of small business owners operating convenience stores, gas stations, bakeries, etc., which are small in scale and employ many minimum wage workers, will increase.

Kwon Dae-soo, Director General of the Small Business Policy Bureau, stated, “After listening to the industry’s difficulties arising from the minimum wage hike at this meeting, we will review measures such as tax support and the expansion of policy funds to alleviate the management burden on small business owners.”