Half of All Laborers Excluded from Social Safety Net

The majority of the nation's labor force is excluded from both unemployment insurance and accident compensation insurance, the two systems that make up Korea's social security system.
Therefore, a growing number of critics are pressing the government to take active steps to resolve this problem.
According to the Ministry of Labor (MOL) on April 15, out of a total of 20 million laborers across the nation, only 42 percent( 8.34 million people) are covered by industrial accident compensation insurance, and 38 percent(7.58 million people) are currently eligible for for unemployment insurance.
However, those covered by unemployment insurance actually amount to no more than 5.65 million people, 28 percent of all laborers. The real number of beneficiaries of disability and accident insurance are dwindling, due to the closures and suspension of construction operations.
Temporary workers as well as the labourers working in small companies or family-run businesses are now excluded from applying for unemployment insurance. The industrial accident insurance plan does not apply to laborers in factories that have under five employees.
The MOL is going to expand industrial accident insurance to companies with less than five employees but, at present, it has no plan to expand the ranks eligible for unemployment insurance.
Jangsoo Seo:joongang.co.kr