Gyeonggi Province Introduces 'Employment Instability Compensation Allowance' Modeled After Lee Jae-myung's Policy

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hoon] Starting next year, Gyeonggi Province will implement a plan to provide compensation payments based on employment instability for non-regular workers in the public sector, including fixed-term workers.

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung recently disclosed a "Gyeonggi Province Differential Payment Design Plan for Compensating Non-Regular Workers' Employment Instability" through his SNS, expressing his intent to pursue the project. The governor stated, "If people do the same work, who should receive higher wages—workers with stable jobs or those with unstable employment? We commit double discrimination by paying less to workers in unstable positions due to non-regular status. Gyeonggi Province has decided to pay more compensation in the public sector alone to non-regular workers than to regular workers, with greater compensation the shorter the employment period," explaining the rationale behind the initiative. According to the design plan disclosed by the governor, the project is expected to proceed through differentiated payment of 'compensation allowances' in proportion to employment instability, based on a minimum 5% of base salary.

This standard resulted from considering overseas cases, research results from the Gyeonggi Research Institute, and wage growth rates. In reality, France provides 10% of total wages as compensation for employment instability, Australia provides 15-30%, and Spain provides approximately 5% in additional wages. Support targets are 2,094 fixed-term workers directly employed by Gyeonggi Province and its public institutions (1,148 provincial fixed-term workers, 948 from public institutions). Considering that shorter employment periods indicate greater employment instability, the province is reviewing a plan to raise compensation payment rates up to a maximum of 10% based on employment duration. According to this, payment amounts are calculated as follows: 2 months or less, 337,000 won; 3-4 months, 707,000 won; 5-6 months, 988,000 won; 7-8 months, 1,179,000 won; 9-10 months, 1,280,000 won; 11-12 months, 1,291,000 won. The allowance is planned to be paid as a lump sum upon contract expiration, with an anticipated budget of approximately 2.4 billion won.

Going forward, the province plans to concretize the project details through consultation with the Provincial Council and reflect them in the "2021 Gyeonggi Province Budget Compilation Guidelines" to begin implementation starting next year.