[사설] Legislation for self-employed people’s loss compensation

On the 21st, Prime Minister Jeong Sye-gyun ordered the Ministry of Strategy and Finance to disclose the legalization of compensation for operating losses for self-employed people due to the Corona 19 quarantine. Initially, the Ministry of Information and Communication said, “It is difficult to find a country that has been legislated,” but turned to favor after being accused by Prime Minister Chung. Prime Minister Chung, who urged “Is this country the country of the Ministry of Equipment,” over a critical issue that could erode the national finances, is also a problem, and the Ministry of Information, who has been confronted with such a problem, is irresponsible. The opposition people’s power also regards the Corona 19 incident as a natural disaster and is urging the government to come up with compensation measures, so it seems a matter of time before legalization.

But the devil is in the details. Every 5.7 million self-employed people have different circumstances. The region, industry, location, and service quality are all over the world. Determining what percentage of last year’s operating loss for a specific self-employed person was attributed to Corona 19 and how much to compensate is a highly specialized area of ​​work.

It is not easy to distinguish between losses caused by corona 19 and losses caused by a wrong business type or location selection or faulty service. An astronomical budget may be required depending on the calculation method. Without a plan to solve these details, it would be more profitable than the benefit of legalization. Another complaint will arise that the amount of compensation itself is small or that the fairness of compensation has been compromised. Some self-employed people get more rewards for their losses, while many self-employed people may be angry with the extremely small compensation. I am worried that the government will fall into administrative convenience and set compensation according to industry and region.

In the future, Korea should also strengthen surveys and statistics on the current state of the labor market, including self-employment. The U.S. produces statistics on employment, unemployment, and inequality by conducting a Current Population Survey for 60,000 households every month. U.S. experts receive the raw data every month and analyze how much damage has occurred in which class and industry by Corona 19.

In addition to the legalization of compensation for losses, Korea must start with efforts to accurately grasp the reality of the economy. Even though there is no realistic compensation standard, the self-employed loss compensation method should not be hurriedly pushed to target the vote.
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