‘Passion pay’ means that an employer hires young applicants without any pay or low pay as an excuse of passion. Many employers think that they don’t need to pay high salaries to young applicants. Also, they say, “Working itself is good experience so don’t complain about that. We have many applicants who can take your place.” The word ‘Passion pay’ derides these thoughts. A few days ago the program named ‘60 Minutes Pursuit’ aired ‘I buy your passion for a song: passion pay’. After this program, many people were worried about it. What do you think about it?

I disagree with the concept of passion pay. I think it is a typical case of what Koreans call ‘gahp-jil’. It means the arrogant and bossy attitude of the party to a contract who has the upper hand over the other. Employers do whatever they want. They hire employees in their own way but they don’t give them fair compensation. Korea’s minimum wage is 5880 won per an hour. It is lower than many other countries. What is worse, is that many enterprises don’t observe this. Everyone knows that having more experiences and qualifications regarding their job or work is important. However, nobody wants to follow their dreams if they can’t receive fair compensation and claim their rights.

Elders say, “We cannot buy youth with money so consider it valuable.” Remember this saying and do not think you can buy young people with small money. I think we have to improve our system and amend the law to relieve the young who receive salaries which are lower than minimum wage.

By Min Hee-yeon(Dept. of Nursing)

Recently, ‘Passion pay’ is the word on everybody’s lips in Korea. The problem of unemployment is getting more serious and job seekers’ rights aren’t respected. In contrast, employers overuse and abuse their rights. Young people unavoidably have to work under bad conditions because of an imbalance between supply and demand regarding employment and recruitment. However, employers pacify the workers by reminding them of passion. Do you really think they can concentrate on their work despite their difficulty in living? I think employers create the phrase ‘passion pay’ to excuse themselves for making more profits by reducing workers’ wages. If workers are employers’ acquaintances, family, and children, do they employ them with lower wages? Perhaps they don’t.

Far from increasing wages, employers reduce them. If this continues, the gap between rich and poor will get more serious. Workers’ rights have to be improved and the government must

amend the law to restrict wicked employers.

By Park Seung-min (Dept. of Tax Management)

Cho Yu-na  -

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