Not all part-timers are so happy
With college tuition fees soaring and stable jobs dwindling, many Koreans in their 20s and 30s are depending more and more on part-time or contract jobs. Especially for those not living with their parents, they hope for their paycheques to cover rent fees, food, bills and hopefully save some for tuition fees. However, there are growing voices that the minimum wage is by no means enough to compliment such a regular lifestyle.
A netizen wrote a post regarding the hourly minimum wage on one of most popular internet community, the Age of Women. She is one of the many exhausted part-time workers, trying to making ends meet. Most netizens agree that the minimum wage is too low, but some of them say they would be content with it; given the fact that they have seen enough cases paying even less than that. To get a glimpse of what they are dealing with, take a look at the statistics below:
The first table is the minimum hourly wage and its year-on-year growth rate during 2005-2012. And the second table is the increase rate (year on year) of CPI (Consumer Prices Indices) during 2005-2011. The meaning and method of CPI index is explained here. As the numbers show, while 2008 saw the biggest increase overall, ‘Agricultural, fishery, and livestock products’ price has been jumping up and up up since 2009.
This graph shows the increase rate (%, base year=2001) of university tuition fees and annual household income during 2001-2010. According to the figure, the average public tuition fees hiked from 2.44 million to 4.37 million won(79%), while the average private tuition fees went up from 4.80 million won to 7.23 million won(51%).
From Daum:
Minimum Hourly Wage: 4580 won, is it enough?
Bus (Adult): electronic transit card 1050won/cash 1150won
Get on the bus 4 times, and kiss your hourly wage good bye.. Thank god we have a free transfer system. [The system connects all public transport system in the Seoul Metropolitan Area so that a passenger can switch from one vehicle to another without additional fare.] But it still is 2100 won for a round trip, which is half of the minimum hourly wage.
Subway: 1150won
The minimum hourly wage is not enough to use the subway system 4 times. You need 20 won more.
Starbucks Americano: 3900 won
Cheaper brands (Americano): 1500~2000 won
You can drink away the minimum wage with two cups of Americano.
At convenience stores
Samgak Gimbap: 800~1000 won
Sandwich: 1500~2500 won
Lunch Box: 2500~3000 won
Three Samgak Gimbaps, three sandwiches, or just one lunch box.
Gimbap: 1500 won
Three Gimbaps = one hour labour
These are going prices where I usually go.. I eat triangle gimbaps or sandwiches. I used to drink coffee, but not anymore since the public transportation fare went up.. Hey what do you guys think? Doesn’t it look like consumer prices aren’t in line with what we get paid for an hour? ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Comments from Daum:
미친산타:
I have to accept the public transportation fare…But my mobile phone bills are outrageous..
SATOSHI:
They are not paying fair wages… I’m in Japan now and when I talk to my friends in Korea about how much I earn for a part-time job, they are taken aback: I earn 1110 yen for an hour, which is enough to pay for two hamburger set meals or two Frappuccino. -_-;; Japan’s consumer prices aren’t expensive at all..
이뿌삐:
My cousin once said that she worked at an internet cafet in Gangneung for 2300 won so I urged her to report it to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, but she said that’s a normal practice in the city;;; And my friend from Gangneung works late night shifts at a convenience store for 5000 won, and she LOVES it. You stupid, late night shifts wages should be at least 6000 won;;; Is it really what happens in the city? ㅠㅠ
진 케이먼:
Some of you are saying that Korean public transportation fare is cheap.. But so are the wages, which do not keep up with consumer prices.. ㅠㅠ
광고학개론:
I watched a foreign soap drama the other day, and the leading man said that ‘Hey, what did you expect me to do with 30 bucks an hour?’ ke ke ke ke I was stunned to first hear that… He was also a alba, a fucking lazy one ke ke ke.. Hey, nobody pays 30 dollars for alba, even Hagwons [private institutions] don’t pay that much.
해줘해줘:
To be honest, I don’t think Korean consumer prices are abnormal. Many say that how a cup of coffee equates to a meal though; the abnormality lies in the frikin‘ meal, not the coffee. Small restaurants barely charge for recipe costs because what the workers are paid is near to nothing. I think coffee prices reflecte well all the cost from wages to recipe cost and value added taxes; although it’s an irony that even franchise cafes don’t pay their employees well.. However, I would rather see wages going up than slashing the prices any further. The labour cost is unbelievably cheap, compared to consumer prices.
모쿠렌:
Ah fuck.. I earn 3900 won for all the errands and so on that I do while putting up with my boss’s nitpicking comments. Ah~ I’m going to quit this fucking job in 6 months! And when officers from the Ministry of Labor confronted my boss for paying below the minimum wage, he threw them out, yelling shamelessly. ke ke ke
은시경은 이름도 은시경:
I would be grateful if they could pay even the minimum wage..pff ㅠㅠ
강민혁:
That’s why I skip meals as many times as possible.. Even paying for food is becoming unbearable.
출구봉쇄:
ke ke ke ke ke if an employee grabs something to eat, then he may not have enough money to go home ke ke ke ke ke
Macabre:
Minimum wages should be a guideline for easy jobs such as managing convenient stores or comic book cafes: yet we are barely paid the minimum wage for painful jobs, even less for easy jobs.
하읏하읏:
ke ke ke ke ke… I met an internet café owner who proudly said, ‘we pay the highest in this town’ for 3500 won ke ke.. And it really was a well-paid job. I heard ‘3000 won’ at another internet café. ke
여름감기는개도안걸리는데걸림찌발:
This is SO trueㅠㅠ The minimum wage is too low.. But come to think of it, when a small business is not doing well, the owner may barely earn one million won. ㅠ Only Chaebols are getting richer. Ah.. fuck.. I really hope consumer prices go down.
슬리핑코:
The minimum hourly wage is 4580 won, yet people say a 5000 won meal is a bargain.. ㅠㅠ
호모에릭투스:
This is fucking outrageous!! I commute from Incheon to Gangnam; I kiss the hourly wage goodbye on public transportation. ke ke ke I work in Gangnam to go to Hagwon, but I’m not sure I can afford it.
허주옥:
Convenience stores are the stingiest! They say the work is easy, but hell no! It is a SO exhausting job with lowest payment ㅡㅡ
청승미녀:
We’ve got the cheapest labour cost ㅠㅠ
세코미ㅋㅋ:
It’s frustrating to see my hourly wage is cheaper than a cup of coffee though; but the [coffee shop] owners still have to pay a fortune for rent fee, interior design work, coffee machines and so forth… The thieves are in franchise headquarters.. ㅠㅠ
No구.라뱅:
Hourly wages ARE cheap, compared to consumer prices.. But, guys, here’s the catch: when wages go up, the prices would jump even more..
라즈베리스트로베리:
Hourly wages are too low.. yet the bigger issue here is that there are too many owners who pay even less than the minimum wage.. This is a sad reality.. ㅠㅠㅠ
