제조업체의 기본급 임금체계와 고령자고용에 관한 연구

The Effect Of Base Wage System On Older Worker Employment In Korean Manufacturing Companies

&nbsp;&nbsp;우리나라의 임금체계는 기본적으로 호봉을 기준으로 임금이 인상되는 연공급체계를 운영하여 왔다. 그러나 지난 1997년 외환위기를 전후로 하여 기업들은 기업의 생산성과 연계되는 임금체계로의 전환을 시도하여 왔는데 아직도 진행중인 단계로 볼 수 있다. 기업들이 그 동안 인간적이고 나름 합리적이었던 연공급 체계를 전환하려고 하는 이유는 국가경제수준에서 저성장체제로의 전환과 기업연령의 증가로 인한고령자 증가에 따른 인건비부담의 증가, 글로벌화에 따른 경쟁환경의 심화 등을 들 수 있을 것이다. 그러나 그 외에도 우리나라가 고령화사회로 진입하게 됨에 따른 고령자의 증가도 있는데, 임금체계를 전환하기 어려운 기업들이 조기퇴직이나 명예퇴직 등으로 정년에 도달하기도 전에 근로자들을 퇴사시키는 경우가 증가하고 있다는 점이 사회적 문제로 대두하고 있다.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;본 연구에서는 노동부의 임금제도 조사자료를 이용하여 제조업체의 고령자고용비율과 기본급 임금체계간의 관계를 살펴보고자 하였다. 이러한 관계는 조직의 규모에 따라 그리고 노조결성 유무에 따라 상당히 다른 결과를 보여주고 있다. 300인 이상의 정규직 근로자를 고용하는 대기업의 경우 노조의 결성과상관없이 호봉급이나 직능급을 유지하는 경우 고령자고용비율이 낮으며 직무급의 경우에는 노조가 결성된 경우에는 정(+)의 관계를, 노조가 없는 경우에는 부(-)의 관계를 보이고 있다. 300인 이하의 중소 제조업체의 경우 대체로 호봉급이 고령자고용비율에 미치는 영향은 약한 편이지만 직능급이나 직무급은 노조유무에 따라 반대의 결과를 보이고 있다.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;결론적으로 대기업의 경우에는 유연한 임금체계를 도입함으로써 고령자고용을 안정화시키고 그 비율을 유지할 수 있을 것으로 보이나 중소기업의 경우에는 현재의 연구결과로는 특정한 결론을 내리기 어렵다고 하겠다. 향후에는 좀 더 정치한 분석을 통해 고령자고용을 유지하고 확대할 수 있는 임금체계의 도입이 확대될 필요가 있을 것이다.

&nbsp;&nbsp;Korea is rapidly moving toward aging society and expected to be one of super aged countries in 2030s. The supply of labor is also expected to decrease as the average age of workers is getting older. However, in Korea, the average age of involuntarily displaced workers is getting younger since early 1990s. Why? Several reasons are suggested to explain this change. One is the increase in capital investment because of increasing labor cost. The other is the vividly increasing competition in business globally. But, the other plausible reason is the rigid wage system in Korea.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Traditionally, the wage increase in Korea is determined by the year of service, so called seniority, not by the performance. Seniority-based wage increase which does not match with the individual performance makes the company have a motivation to displace the workers at the age of forties, rather than to keep the workers until the age of mandatory retirement. The question here is then, whether the wage system other than the seniority-based wage such as ability-based or job-based wage, is compatible with productivity- or performance-based wage system and leads to retain older workers.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Using the data managed and collected by the Ministry of Labor in 2007, the effect of wage system on the ratio of older workers in a company who are older than 50 was analyzed. The data show that the effect of either wage system on the ratio of older workers was in general not statistically significant. But, the effects of size and union which were controlled in the regression analysis were statistically significant although the direction of the effect was opposite: the effect of size was negative while the effect of union was positive to the ratio of older workers. A further analysis was done to the subgroups with the size and the union.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;The seniority-based wage system was negatively related to the ratio of older workers in large-size companies with more than 300 regular workers regardless of unionization. But the effect was insignificant in small-size and unionized companies with 100-299 workers and positive in small-size and unionized ones. Ability-based wage system was also negatively related with large-size companies regardless of unionization. While in small-zize companies, the effect of ability-based wage system on the ratio of older workers is inconsistent: positive in unionized but negative in unionized companies. The effect of job-based wage system more perplexed: positive in large-size unionized companies and negative in large-size nonunionized companies while negative in small-size unionized companies and positive in small-size nonunionized companies.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;However, with some conditions, it can be concluded that the effect of both seniority-based and ability-based wage system was not effective to retain older workers in large-size companies even with union&quot;s protection for its members. But, the job-based wage system may be effective to retain older workers in large-size unionized companies. With regard to small-size companies, the results are complex and difficult to grap the consistent argument based on the regression result.