[단독]Repeatedly quitting and joining the same company… Earning 100 million won in unemployment benefits for 20 years

If you work for 6 months, you can receive it without any limit
Repeated receipts from the same workplace: 15,000 people from January to July this year alone
“Improving the system so that vulnerable groups are not harmed”

Photo by Lee Han-gyeol [email protected]

A man in his 60s who works in the fishing industry has received about 97 million won in unemployment benefits (job-seeker benefits) for 20 years by repeatedly quitting and joining the same company every year since 2005. It seems that he took advantage of the fact that workers who are subscribed to employment insurance can receive unemployment benefits for 4 to 9 months (120 to 270 days) without any limit on the number of times they work, as long as they meet the requirements, such as working for more than 6 months (180 days).

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to Rep. Kim Wi-sang of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee, on the 24th, the number of repeat recipients from the same workplace who repeatedly quit and joined the same company and received unemployment benefits multiple times reached approximately 15,000 from January to July this year alone. This corresponds to 19.1% of all repeat recipients. The Ministry of Employment and Labor classifies as a “repeated recipient” anyone who received unemployment benefits three or more times in the five years immediately preceding the base year.

Experts believe that in the case of repeated receipt of benefits from the same workplace, there is a high possibility that the system was abused by the employer and worker agreeing to work only during periods when there is a lot of work to meet the requirements for receipt. The proportion of repeated recipients from the same workplace among all repeated recipients nearly doubled from 10.9% in 2019 to 18.8% last year. The number of repeated recipients is also on the rise. As of the end of July this year, the number of repeated unemployment benefit recipients was approximately 81,000, an increase of approximately 3% compared to the same period last year (approximately 79,000). Since the lower limit of unemployment benefits is linked to 80% of the minimum wage, the fact that one can receive at least 1.89 million won per month (working 8 hours a day) as of this year is also cited as a factor encouraging repeated receipt of benefits.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor is pushing for a revision of the law to cut unemployment benefits by up to 50% in cases of repeated receipt, but it is not making any progress due to opposition from labor sectors concerned about the impact on vulnerable groups. Rep. Kim said, “We should push for improvements to the unemployment benefits system so that we can faithfully support re-employment, but we should also implement supplementary measures to prevent damage to vulnerable groups.”

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Reporter Joo Ae-jin [email protected]

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2024-09-26 01:19:33