Thirteen South Korean small business organizations, including the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (KBIZ) and the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise (KFME), have called on presidential candidates to ease labor regulations and support policies that reflect the realities of smaller firms.
The groups released a list of 100 policy proposals on April 13 developed with three academic organizations. They said the goal is to “restart the engine of South Korea’s slowing economy,” which faces growing inequality and weakening innovation. The proposals focus on three main areas: creating stable jobs, boosting manufacturing, and improving the overall business environment.
One of the key demands is to ease the overtime limits under the 52-hour workweek. The current system allows up to 12 hours of overtime per week, with a standard of 40 hours per week and 8 hours per day. The small business groups are requesting that the limit be managed on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis instead of weekly. They argue that many small businesses, especially during peak seasons or when export deadlines are approaching, need to extend working hours temporarily to meet deadlines, but the current weekly cap makes it difficult to do so.
They also expressed concerns about proposals from some political circles to raise the retirement age across the board. While acknowledging labor shortages, they argue that a blanket extension would increase wage costs and complicate staff management. Instead, they called for the flexibility to rehire older workers based on their needs and for legal changes that would allow companies to adjust wages when employing older workers. To address South Korea’s declining birthrate and shrinking youth population, the groups also proposed establishing a new government ministry focused on population policy.
Other proposals include forming a presidential committee to support innovation in small-scale manufacturing and introducing laws that help small firms use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve productivity.
