The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said on the 3rd it will release a range of indicators, including the ratio of unpaid wages to total wages and the number of victims of wage arrears per 10,000 workers. The goal is to more accurately grasp the reality of wage arrears and use the data as a basis for policy responses.
The ministry will release 11 types of arrears statistics every month through the labor portal. Until now, it had released only three types—arrears aggregates and settlement amounts, and the number of workers victimized by arrears—but critics had said those failed to sufficiently show the severity or trends of arrears.
Accordingly, it will introduce relative indicators such as the wage arrears rate and the number of workers in arrears per 10,000 people. It will also disclose detailed status by outcome of case handling, size of unpaid amounts, and by industry, business sites size, nationality, and region.
The causes of arrears will also be broken down by type. It will link arrears information with corporations income information and conduct in-depth analysis of the causes through research services, with plans to announce the results once a year. Based on the analysis, it will also push tailored policies for each type of arrears.
It will also overhaul the method for compiling statistics. Previously, there was a problem of double-counting arrears amounts for years under investigation and years when investigations were completed. Going forward, it will calculate based on finalized arrears amounts after investigations are completed.
In addition, it plans to disclose "hidden arrears" identified through reported cases, establishment inspections, and full enumerations of workers victimized by arrears on a semiannual basis.
Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said, "We will closely analyze the causes of arrears so that precise policies reach where they are needed," and added, "We will also push legal revisions, including a full enumeration of arrears business sites, the introduction of a system for separate payment of wage items, and raising the statutory penalties for employers in arrears."