The Ministry of Employment and Labor(MOEL) unveiled a measure on October 19 to invigorate the aged worker dispatch as one of the policies to strengthen the employment service for the aged and semi-aged through fostering the non-profit worker dispatch agencies.

However, such a measure can be controversial, because it is interlinked with the passage of a bill submitted to revise the Act on the Protection, etc., of Dispatched Workers(Worker Dispatch Act) which includes the provisions to expand the worker dispatch for the aged and semi-aged over 55 years old.

The MOEL explained that the government will foster the aged employment support institutions such as talent banks for the aged and social enterprises as the government supported non-profit aged worker dispatch agencies. This is to strengthen the job matching between the demand and supply of dispatched jobs which are in decent working conditions and suited to the aged and semi-aged workers. It may not guarantee a permanent employment until the retirement age, but the aged workers can have better chances to work more than 1 year which is the minimum requirement period for the entitlement of severance pay.

The government is providing the non-profit worker dispatch agencies with the subsidies to support not only operation costs but also education and training expenses of the dispatched workers. The MOEL has a pilot plan to launch five non-profit worker dispatch agencies next year. With the recognition of difficulties in running the 'permanent dispatch agency worker model' in reality, the MOEL plans to induce the using employers to retain the aged dispatched workers in employment at their longest.

'Permanent dispatch agency worker model' is a system that a worker dispatch agency is hiring the workers on a permanent basis and send them to the using employers when requested, unlike 'temporary dispatch agency worker model' which an agency is recruiting the workers only for a given period depending on the need of the using employers.

Last year when the labor market reforms were deliberated in the tripartite negotiation proceedings, experts representing the public interests suggested 'permanent dispatch agency worker model' as a measure to expand the worker dispatch to the root industry in the manufacturing sector. In the recent parliamentary audit of the government, Rep. Lim Yee-ja of the ruling Saenuri Party made a suggestion to the MOEL to establish a public institution to implement a pilot program for the use of 'permanent dispatch agency workers'.

'Permanent dispatch agency worker model' is positively evaluated as a better form of employment than 'temporary dispatch agency worker model'. However, it is generally perceived that the implementation is difficult due to the reality that the worker dispatch in nature is used mainly for the lower wages in Korea.

The government is anticipating that even though the measure does not develop to the 'permanent dispatch agency worker model', if non-profit agencies carry out the worker dispatch undertakings, the working environment and quality of jobs for the dispatched workers will improve.

However, such a government measure can only come into effect if and when the proposed amendment bill on the 'Worker Dispatch Act' pursued by the government and the ruling party is passed in the National Assembly.

According to the amendment bill, worker dispatch is expanded to include the root industry in the manufacturing sector and high-income professionals along with the aged and semi-aged workers over 55 years old. Labor circle is skeptical of the effect in that the government and ruling party may have picked up the employment issue of the aged workers to gain momentum for the passage of the amendment bill.

reported by Kim Bong-seok
edited in English by Kim Sung-jin