2020 Minimum Wage in Korea for Filipino EPS Workers is P373/hour (P77,961/month)

SEOUL - South Korea decided to raise the minimum wage by 2.9 percent to 8,590 won (PHP 373.02) per hour for year 2020. The minimum wage is ...

SEOUL - South Korea decided to raise the minimum wage by 2.9 percent to 8,590 won (PHP 373.02) per hour for year 2020. The minimum wage is the lowest possible pay a Filipino migrant worker (though EPS System) is lawfully entitled to receive.

Initially, the labor sector proposed 10,000 won for next year, which represents a 19.8 percent increase from this year's minimum wage. But the business circle proposed a 4.2 percent cut to 8,000 won, inviting an angry reaction from labor.

A single-digit increase was widely anticipated as President Moon Jae-in has signaled at flexibility amid backlashes from smaller firms and merchants over steep hikes. In his election pledge, President Moon vowed to raise the minimum wage to 10,000 won by 2020. But he has signaled at the need to slow its growth pace amid an economic slowdown and tepid job growth. The minimum wage hike is intended to increase income and consumption, and prop up the economic growth under Moon's signature income-driven growth policy.

It was the first time that the business circle demanded a cut in the minimum wage since 2009, when it proposed a 5.8 percent decrease to cope with the global financial crisis.

The Minimum Wage Commission holds a meeting on July 11, 2019, in the administrative capital of Sejong to deliberate on next year's minimum wage. (Yonhap)