But labor associations view them as underemployed because they are partly out of work.
TT: In many Asian countries, especially Taiwan, a majority of workers work overtime. What do you think of job sharing, a policy that some countries have adopted to include more of the working population?
Lee: Labor associations support this concept, because more people can find jobs, but job sharing should only be conducted under the condition that workers salaries are not lowered as a result of fewer work hours. For example, if a worker does half the amount of work, but receives only half the original salary, this is unacceptable. The worker needs the full amount to survive.
Labor associations in South Korea believe that responsibility for the economic downturn should not be shouldered by workers.
In the economic downturn of 1997 to 1998, the concept that workers should have a share of the responsibility for the economic downturn was very popular. At the time, government officials believed workers should accept lower wages in times of slower production.
As a result, workers suffered, not companies.
TT: Many labor associations in Taiwan are urging the government to decrease the quota for hiring foreign workers to protect the jobs of domestic workers. The government has also promised to cut the foreign workforce by 30,000 this year. What do you think of this policy?
Lee: The South Korean government has also said it would cut one-third of the foreign workforce. It said it would award bonuses to companies that replaced foreign workers with domestic workers. But in most cases, the kind of work done by foreign workers is unsanitary, dangerous or involves harsh conditions with very low wages, so domestic workers are unwilling to do such work.
The unemployment problem stems from mass layoffs by companies, yet the government is trying to shift the focus to migrant workers, who are taking the blame for a problem they haven’t caused.
The policy of replacing foreign labor with domestic workers proposes to subsidize employers who, by improving working conditions, can replace their foreign workforce with South Korean workers.
What employer would actually spend the money necessary to improve facilities to receive a mere 1,200,000 won [US$890]?
It is also doubtful whether domestic workers would actually take the jobs migrant workers now occupy. This is because of the low wages, long hours and poor conditions. The work most migrants do is already a separate labor market.
RSS