A citizen receives consulting about unemployment claims at the branch of Seoul’s employment agency in Mapo, western Seoul, on April 28, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Non-standard contract employees, such as home-visit tutors and insurance salespersons, will likely be included among employment insurance beneficiaries, beginning next year, as part of the government’s universal employment insurance scheme to cover all working people, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said Wednesday.
The ministry said it has begun a legislative process to make about 2.3 million non-standard contract workers nationwide eligible for employment insurance and aims to pass a related revision of the Employment Insurance Act through the National Assembly by year’s end.
Non-standard contract employees refer to workers of special employment types who provide labor to employers as solo proprietors but are not recognized as regular workers protected by the employment insurance system.
Besides home-visit tutors and insurance salespersons, those special-type workers include credit card recruiters, construction equipment operators, golf caddies, courier drivers, delivery workers and replacement drivers.
The ministry said its legal revision calls for allowing all special-type workers with exclusive contracts with employers to join the employment insurance program.
The non-standard contract employees should share the burden of employment insurance premiums with their employers and have to pay premiums for over 12 months during the last 24 months of employment contracts in order to be eligible for insurance benefits.
They can also claim unemployment allowances even after moving to another employer due to income reduction. Parental allowances will also be available for qualified subscribers, it explained.
The Moon Jae-in government has vowed to prepare a road map for a universal employment insurance system by the end of the year, and the Assembly passed a legal revision in May that will make it possible for artists to receive benefits from the employment insurance system starting next year.
The labor ministry said the Employment Insurance Act’s revision related to the non-standard contract workers will be presented to the parliament in September.
The employment insurance program was introduced in 1995 as the main employment safety net for regular workers in workplaces of certain sizes.
(Yonhap)
