The Tripartite Commission has rejected a proposal for a minimum wage in individual sectors.

The Minimum Wage Commission, which is composed of nine representatives each from labor unions, management and the public, is holding its seventh plenary meeting on Tuesday at the Sejong Government Complex.

By Jun Ji-hye

The same minimum wage will continue to apply across all industries in Korea next year. On Tuesday, a plenary meeting of the tripartite commission rejected a proposal to introduce a minimum wage in individual sectors.

The 27-member Minimum Wage Commission, consisting of nine representatives from unions, management and the public, voted on the proposal supported by management. In the vote, 15 members opposed the proposal, while 11 supported it, with one invalid vote.

The vote was part of the commission’s process of setting the minimum wage for 2025, whose annual deliberations began on May 21.

A differentiated minimum wage has only been introduced in Korea once, in 1988. However, since then the measure has not been maintained and an equal minimum wage has been in force across all sectors for the next 36 years.

The management side has proposed a differentiated minimum wage, arguing for lower wages, especially for micro-businesses such as restaurants, taxi services and convenience stores, citing the economic challenges faced by small business owners and the self-employed as justification for their proposal.

The labour sector has strongly opposed the measure, arguing that it constitutes socio-economic discrimination and undermines the purpose of the minimum wage system, which aims to provide workers with a minimum amount of money necessary to live.

Although union and management representatives argued over the issue, the commission once again missed the legal deadline for setting the minimum wage for 2025, which passed last Thursday.

Since the motion was rejected, the commission will now turn its attention to another point of concern — whether the minimum wage will exceed 10,000 won ($7.2) an hour for the first time in Korean history.