When the minimum wage rises by 1%, the consumer price rises by 0.07%. In particular, research has shown that it greatly affects the cost of eating out, such as bibimbap, pork belly and jajangmyeon.

The Korea Economic Research Institute said that it was found by analyzing the correlation between the minimum wage and the price from 1988 to 2017 when the minimum wage was commissioned by Song Hun-jae, a professor at Seoul City University.

Professor Song said in the report, the higher the proportion of workers affected by the minimum wage increase, the greater the increase in the price of producer prices and major catering expenses.

When the percentage of workers whose hourly wages fell below the minimum wage for the next year rose by 1 percentage point, it was analyzed that the producer price index rose 0.89%, and the price of major catering expenses rose 0.17 to 0.81%.

Among them, if the current wage is higher than the minimum wage, but the percentage of workers lower than the standard of next year increases by 1 percentage point, the producer price index rose by 1.68%, and the cost of food and beverages rose by 0.30 to 1.23%.

For workers whose wages are currently lower than the minimum wage, when the ratio rises by 1 percentage point, the producer price index rose 0.77%, and the food service cost rose 0.11-0.98%.

If you look at the impact of raising the minimum wage for each item of dining out, bibimbap is the highest, followed by pork belly and jajangmyeon.

Samgyetang (0.17%) was the lowest.

Looking at the price increase and the contribution rate of the minimum wage increase, bibimbap is 15.0-57.0 won (10.4-39.6%), and samgyetang is 3.5-25.4 won (3.1-22.0%).
Professor Song said, "The contribution rate of the increase in the minimum wage to the increase in the cost of dining out is greater than the increase in the producer price index (0.8-3.0%)."

Han Kyung-Yeon said, "If the minimum wage rises sharply, side effects such as rising prices and job loss may occur."

Meanwhile, Professor Song added, "The inflation rate according to the 2017 minimum wage increase (7.3%) can be seen as 0.5%," and "26.3% of that year's consumer price increase rate (1.9%) is explained as the minimum wage increase." The.

(Photo = Han Kyung-Yon, Yonhap News)