Platform Worker Survey Resumes After Three Years... Will the Debate on 'Contract-Based Minimum Wage' Gain Momentum?

Survey Suspended in 2024 Due to Issues with Sample Representativeness
Surge in Platform Workers Highlights Need for Foundational Policy Data
Ministry of Employment and Labor: "Minimum Wage and Labor Rights Remain Unprotected"

The government is resuming a survey on the status of platform workers, including delivery riders, after three years, with the aim of producing nationally recognized statistics. As the Minimum Wage Commission begins its work, whether or not the minimum wage will apply to platform workers and other contract-based laborers has emerged as a key issue. With the government embarking on a full-scale effort to bring these workers into the institutional framework, labor unions are expected to gain momentum in their demands.

Yonhap News Agency

According to relevant ministries on May 26, the Ministry of Employment and Labor will conduct a survey on platform labor conditions from September to November. As the digital transformation accelerates and the number of platform workers obtaining jobs through intermediaries rapidly increases, the government plans to use the survey to gather detailed data on the size of the workforce, occupations, and key working environments, which will serve as basic material for policymaking.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor, together with the Korea Employment Information Service, had published annual surveys on platform workers from 2021 to 2024. However, the Ministry of Data and Statistics determined that the 2024 survey lacked sufficient representativeness in its methodology, leading to a complete halt of the survey that year. The Ministry of Employment and Labor now plans to change the survey methodology and resume the survey, aiming for it to be recognized as nationally approved statistics.

An official from the Ministry explained, "In the past, the survey used the RDD (Random Digit Dialing) method, where calls were made randomly and, if the respondent turned out to be a platform worker, the survey continued, which reduced the reliability of the sample." The official added, "Recognizing the need for relevant statistics together with the Ministry of Data and Statistics, we decided to change the methodology and resume the survey." The key issue is how to improve the reliability of the sample. The official further stated, "We plan to study several methods, such as whether to conduct online surveys, whether to combine them with face-to-face surveys, or whether to incorporate them into the Ministry of Data and Statistics’ statistical surveys."

On this day, as the Minimum Wage Commission holds its second plenary session, one of the biggest issues this year is whether the minimum wage will be applied to contract-based workers. Although discussions have been ongoing since 2024, labor and management have not been able to narrow their differences, citing reasons such as the inability to measure working hours and concerns about small business bankruptcies. However, this year, Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon officially requested the commission to "review whether to establish a separate minimum wage for contract-based or similar wage workers for whom it is deemed inappropriate to set the minimum wage on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis," changing the situation. This comes in response to continued demands from labor unions that special employment and platform workers, who are not recognized as employees under the Labor Standards Act, should be guaranteed basic rights through application of the minimum wage.

Since the final minimum wage must be publicly announced by August 5, the results of this survey will not be directly reflected in this year’s decision. However, as the government continues efforts to bring the rapidly increasing number of platform workers into the institutional framework, labor unions’ demands are expected to gain further support. When commissioning the platform labor survey, the Ministry pointed out that "many platform workers and service providers are excluded from paid leave, sick leave, severance pay, and other benefits under the current Labor Standards Act, and remain in a blind spot not protected by minimum wage and labor rights."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.