SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s government announced on Tuesday a sweeping overhaul of its employment permit system for foreign workers, pledging to relax restrictions on workplace changes and extend residency periods for those holding E-9 visas. The reforms also aim to tighten sanctions on employers found guilty of labor rights violations. At [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Platform and special employment workers in South Korea, long excluded from basic labor protections, earn far below the legal minimum wage and face chronic job insecurity, according to a new government-backed study that is fueling calls for urgent reform. A report by the Korea Labor Institute estimated that about [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — As South Korea weighs proposals for a shorter workweek and extended retirement age, a growing number of companies are already adopting flexible schedules — in some cases reducing hours to just four days — in what could become a model for broader labor market reform. Major firms including SK [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s gender wage gap at publicly listed companies grew wider last year, even as the gap in average tenure between men and women narrowed, according to new government data. An analysis of 2,980 corporate annual reports for 2024, released Friday by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s efforts to rescue its collapsing essential medical system by sharply raising reimbursements for high-risk surgeries have failed to halt the sector’s decline, new government data show. Even with more generous payments, essential care still accounts for less than 20 percent of total medical spending, while pediatric and obstetric [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s flagship carmakers and shipbuilders are facing waves of strikes as labor negotiations falter, highlighting rising tensions over wages, retirement policies and corporate restructuring at a time of global economic uncertainty. At Hyundai Motor, the company’s union staged its first walkout in seven years, launching a series of partial [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Unionized workers of Samsung Electronics Co. sent a letter to Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Tuesday, demanding the company improve the transparency of its bonus system. In a document sent to the de facto head of Samsung Group, workers demanded the adoption of a more transparent bonus evaluation system and [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — SK hynix Inc. and its labor union reached a tentative wage deal Monday that includes a 6 percent pay rise and the removal of the ceiling on so-called profit-sharing bonuses, industry sources said. After 11 rounds of negotiations over the past three months, the management and the union decided [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — A majority of South Korean companies prefer to rehire older employees after retirement rather than extend their contracts or adopt alternative employment models, according to a new survey that underscores both the demand for experienced workers and the challenges of managing labor costs. The Korea Employers Federation (KEF) said [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly three years after the deadly crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon district, the toll on firefighters who rushed to the scene continues to reverberate. A growing number of first responders have died by suicide, prompting urgent calls for stronger measures to address post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among emergency personnel. [...]