Do you know how much the recently increased 2016 minimum-wage is?

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced 2016 minimum-wage hike on August 5th. A lot of university students work a part-time job during vacation. Then, are they guaranteed minimum-wage? How much do you know about the 2016 minimum-wage hike? How much is a reasonable hourly labor rate? We conducted a survey of 189 students to figure out their opinion.

The first question was, “Do you know how much the 2016 minimum-wage recently increased?” 141 students (74%) correctly answered ‘6,030won’, 39 students (21%) answered ‘5,580won’ and 9 students (5%) answered ‘6,300won’. A number of students knew ‘6,030won’ correctly.

However, when we asked the second question “Are you satisfied with the minimum-wage?” Most of them (45%) answered ‘dissatisfaction’, 75 students (40%) answered ‘normal’ and only 27 students (15%) felt ‘satisfaction’. A respondent said, "Our minimum wage is relatively low compared to Japan. Consumer prices hiked sharply but wage hiked as little as a piece of candy. Who would be satisfied?"

The third question was, “What is a reasonable hourly labor rate?” 69 students (36%) said a range from ‘7,000won to 7,990won’ was reasonable, 36 students (19%) answered ‘8,000won to 8,990won’ and 57 students (30%) answered ‘6,000won to 6,990won’. Most of them wanted more than 7,000won. Only three student answered ‘5,000won to 5,990won, lower than the minimum wage of 2016.

The last question was “Have you ever been paid lower than minimum wage?” 72 students (38%) said ‘Yes’ and 114 students (60%) said ‘No’. Even the minimum wage was not ensured to some students.

These results show that minimum-wage hike didn’t please most CWNU students.

Minimum wage isn’t even always ensured. Not only raising the minimum wage but also guaranteeing the minimum wage is important. Honor your precious labor.

Park Sarah  msjwk9497@naver.com

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