The Minimum Wage Commission decided on the 11th not to apply the minimum wage to contract-for-service workers such as delivery riders and home-study instructors when setting next year's minimum wage.
The commission held its fifth plenary meeting at the Government Sejong Complex that day and voted on whether to apply a separate minimum wage to contract-for-service workers. Contract-for-service workers are paid based on performance, with delivery riders and home-study instructors being typical examples. At the first through fourth plenary meetings held earlier, the labor side argued that contract-for-service workers should also be subject to the minimum wage, while the management side said "contract-for-service workers are essentially self-employed," and thus are not subject to the minimum wage. As the two sides failed to narrow their differences, the matter went to a vote that day.
In the vote, 15 out of the 27 members opposed applying the minimum wage to contract-for-service workers. Only 11 voted in favor, and the remaining one cast an invalid ballot. In the end, the Minimum Wage Commission resolved not to apply the minimum wage to contract-for-service workers next year as well. The commission consists of 27 members, nine each from labor, management, and public interest. It appears that a considerable number of the neutral public-interest members agreed with the management side's view.
Calls to apply the minimum wage to contract-for-service workers emerged in 2023. Until then, they were repeatedly rejected for reasons such as a lack of fact-finding on contract-for-service workers. The Minimum Wage Commission said last year that related discussions needed to move forward in earnest and ordered the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) to investigate the scale, income, and working conditions of contract-for-service workers. The first commission meeting held after that was this year, but it was voted down again this year.
Meanwhile, the commission plans to hold its sixth plenary meeting on the 16th and decide and announce next year's minimum wage by Aug. 5.