SEOUL: South Korea’s business groups and the country’s umbrella labour union expressed disappointment after the government said on Saturday it would raise minimum wages by 10.9 per cent for 2019.

The Minimum Wage Commission announced that minimum wages would be raised to 8,350 won ($7.40) an hour next year, lower than what workers had proposed.

Businesses also criticised the move as they had sought to freeze salaries amid signs of growing economic headwinds and the fallout from U.S. trade protectionism.

A group representing small business owners said it won’t implement the reform as its members were already grappling with higher minimum wages.

South Korea’s labour-friendly Presi­dent Moon Jae-in has pledged to raise the minimum wage by 55pc to 10,000 won per hour by 2020 as part of efforts to boost consumption and growth.

After a 19-hour-long meeting ending on Saturday, the wage commission agreed on the hike, which was smaller than this year’s 16.4pc rise, amid worries about weak job growth.

South Korea added a monthly average of 142,000 jobs between January and June this year, the slowest growth seen since the 2008-09 global financial crisis, according to Statistics Korea.

The group of small business owners called the wage increase a “unilateral decision” and said it would impose a “moratorium” on its implementation.

“We can’t accept the decision by the Minimum Wage Commission,” the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise said in a statement.

“Small-business owners are at a crossroads where they cannot help but choose either business shutdowns or staff cuts,” the association said, adding that they were facing a “miserable reality.” It said its members would discuss the possibility of more action.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2018