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meeting was held for the first time since the new administration to decide how much the minimum wage should be next year.

In the meantime, the employer side has struggled with the increase in the minimum wage, and the worker side has been struggling with the need to raise the wage, saying that it is painful from the soaring price level.



Reporter Han Sang-woo reports.



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From the first remarks at the meeting, there was a clear difference in the positions of labor and management.



The user argued that the increase should be minimized as it jumped more than 40% over 5 years from 6,470 won in 2017 to 9,120 won this year.



The workers' side opposed the need to reduce polarization by raising the minimum wage as large corporations are raising wages by 10% and even holding a performance-pay party.



[Ryu Ki-jeong / Employer Commissioner: (Recent 5 years) If you look at the cumulative inflation rate, it is 8.2%, and the minimum wage has risen by 42% in 5 years, so I think the impact is still quite there.

I hope the minimum wage is stable.]



[Lee Dong-ho / Workers' Commissioner: These days, ordinary people cannot buy a proper meal with a single sheet of 10,000 won, and even if they go to a local grocery store, they cannot buy an egg or tofu properly. It's true

.]



We also fought over the application of the minimum wage differential by industry, which was a promise made by President Yoon Seok-yeol.



The employer said that there is a legal basis and that a differential application should be made in consideration of the circumstances of each industry that cannot afford the minimum wage.



On the other hand, workers countered that it could stigmatize occupations that apply differentially as low-wage industries and distort the purpose of the minimum wage system to protect low-wage workers.



Although the Minimum Wage Committee has to finish its discussions by the legal deadline of June 29, there are already a lot of prospects that the legal deadline can be exceeded because there are not many issues such as the level of increase as well as differential application.



(Video coverage: Kim Min-cheol, video editing: Hwang Ji-young)