Middle-class families: in danger but ignored
4/4 NANCY
January 10, 2006 ㅡ The turmoil of the 1997-98 financial crisis saw many middle-class families sink into lower-class wages and living conditions. These days, however, middle-class families are facing a fresh assault on their standard of living due to ongoing corporate restructuring and the soaring costs of housing and education.
But with the government preoccupied with improving the conditions of the working class, many in the middle class fear they are being overlooked.
"Greeting the new year, I hope politicians will take a greater interest in the situation of middle-class families," said Kim Ki-seop, 46, head of the product development team at the Industrial Bank of Korea. "It is not easy to make a good living."
Mr. Kim has worked at the bank for 17 years and now owns a 106-square-meter (126.5-square-yard) apartment in Ilsan, a new residential city northwest of Seoul. His annual salary has jumped by 7 million won ($7,160) this year because of his work team's successes last year.
Yet Mr. Kim does not feel financially safe. He is unsure that he can cover the soaring educational costs for his son in middle school and his daughter in elementary school. He is also concerned about his job. "I saw many friends my age being retired in the aftermath of the financial crisis," he said. "That might happen to me some day."
Like many of his peers, Mr. Kim is taking a course for a master's of business administration on weekends in anticipation of needing a new job.
The financial crisis hit white-collar workers especially hard. Of the 147 people who have applied since 2003 for training programs operated by the Korea Employers Federation, the Human Resources Development Service of Korea and DBM Korea, nearly 73 percent had been office workers or in the field of research and development.
Pressure on older workers to make room for younger people has grown as jobs have become scarce following the financial crisis. An oft-heard quip at local companies runs, "A man who remains in an office until the age of 56 has no shame."
"The administration is not making policies to help relieve middle-class concerns," Mr. Kim said.
Many in the middle class feel that government policies aimed at helping those less well off often depict the middle and upper classes in a poor light, creating conflict between classes, experts said. Such attitudes won't help stabilize the nation's middle class, they said.
"Since the political influence of the middle class weakened, politicians have been busy attacking ‘vested interests,' without offering alternative proposals," said Lee Nae-young, professor of political science at Korea University. "Most middle-class people are tired of ideological or class-based conflicts that have continued for two years under the Roh administration," said Kim Ho-ki, professor of sociology at Yonsei University.
Experts also said that the government must recognize that educational costs are the heaviest burden on middle-class households and should improve public educational services.
"With the current administration's educational policies focusing on equality, they cannot meet middle-class people's demand for high-quality education," said Kwon Dae-bong, dean of Korea University's Graduate School of Education.
"With the quality of public education deteriorating, more wealthy families will send their children abroad, which many middle-class families won't be able to afford. Accordingly, educational and economic inequality will worsen," Mr. Kwon said.
Other experts said government welfare programs will have to be reconsidered. "It is very dangerous to think that economic inequality can be solved only through welfare programs," said Keum Jae-ho, a research fellow at the Korea Labor Institute. "The government should focus its poverty relief programs on the aged and the disabled, while improving opportunities for other poor people by creating more jobs."
In the Netherlands, irregular jobs with contracts of less than one year account for 40 percent of all jobs but few people complain, said Yoo Gyeong-joon, research fellow at the Korea Development Institute. "The government should focus on reducing discrimination against irregular workers rather than cutting irregular jobs. This would get more people in the workforce," he said.
* turmoil - 소란, 소동, 혼란, 동요
* pre·oc·cu·py - …을 먼저 점유하다, 선취하다 / …의 마음을 빼앗다, …을 열중[몰두]케 하다
* o·ver·look - 간과하다, …을 못보고 넘어가다; …을 너그럽게 봐주다, 눈감아주다
* i·de·o·log·ic - 관념적인, 사색[공상]적인. (또는 ideological) -i·cal·ly
* inequality - 같지 않음, 불균등, 불균형; 불평등, 편파.
( educational ~ 교육(을 받을 기회)의 불균등 )
<< Let's Discuss it! >>
1. If you get in trouble at 60's, what is your plan to improve your life?
(For example, you lose your jobs or get some accident. so you can not afford to work.)
2. "A man who remains in an office until the age of 56 has no shame."
What do you think about it?
3. To have better life, what should we do?
4. Most people want to get a lucrative work to earn money. That's why SAMSUNG, LG etc...
are number one company that people prefer even if they are not fit for that job or with the sole object of money.
Let's Discuss it!
<< NANCY 曰 >>
제가 준비한 기사인데 참석을 못해서 죄송해요~! (--)(__)(--)''
오늘 갑자기 어머니께서 학교 앞에서 회식을 한다시길래~ 제가 어머니를 대신해서 운전해야 될 꺼 같네요.
그래서 밤에 잠시 영천 내려갑니당. ^-^'''
이 기사 읽고 많은 분들이 관심을 가질꺼 같네요!
열심히 준비해 오셔서 토론하세요! 화이팅!!!
(프린트는..제가 직접 뽑지 못하네요. 하하~ 나중에 개인적으로 오시면 커피한잔 쏠께요!
)