Ruling party pushes to boost temporary workers' wages

SEOUL, July 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's ruling party is considering raising temporary workers' wages as part of efforts to help narrow wage gaps between regular and contract workers, party officials said Thursday. "Measures should be sought out in order to narrow the wage differences for regular and temporary workers doing the same task," Ahn Hong-joon, a deputy chief policymaker of the Grand National Party, told Yonhap News Agency by phone. He, however, said achieving equal pay in the near future is realistically unlikely. "The party, instead, may be able to set a guideline for driving up contract workers' wages to match 80 percent of the pay going to permanent workers," Ahn said. The party is also seeking other ways to close gaps in different welfare conditions between the temporary and regular, including an expansion in workplace insurance coverage for those who work on short-term contracts, he noted. The party's chief policymaker Lee Ju-young also said the party "will come up with guidelines on subcontracted workers and ways to address contract workers' meager insurance coverage (provided by employers)." The ruling party is expected to push for granting a variety of incentives, including tax cuts for employers who drive up the portion of permanent workers or close up wage gaps between the worker groups. The comments came as the right-leaning ruling party ushered in newly elected party leader Hong Joon-pyo on Monday. Hong has vowed to beef up support for low-income families and regain popular confidence.