The nation’s five major business bodies loudly voiced their disapproval on Friday of bills for extending the retirement age and other pro-welfare initiatives stemming from President Park Geun-hye’s economic democratization policies.

“We express our collective concern over the anti-corporate sentiment that is evident in recent bills proposed by lawmakers,” said Kim Young-vae, vice president of the Korea Employers Federation at an emergency press conference at Plaza Hotel.

The KEF was joined by the top representatives for the country’s larger companies ― the Federation of Korean Industries, the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the Korea International Trade Association, and the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business. 

This was the first official executive-level gathering of economic opinion leaders since the new administration geared up for its welfare-driven economic policies grounded in the public’s growing demands for better social equality.

“We felt the need to form a unified front to support our corporate sector,” said Lee Dong-geun, the KOCHAM vice president.

The statement read that under the current seniority-based wage system, the extension of retirement age would increase the burden on companies’ employment, which would then lead to a decrease of jobs for the younger generation.

Among the bills they took issue against was one obligating employers to offer an alternative day off when a public holiday falls on Sunday and a slew of other “pro-welfare” bills that were passed at a parliamentary subcommittee on Tuesday and would take effect if approved by the labor committee and the general assembly next week.

The KEF estimates that up to 4.3 trillion won of additional costs would be incurred should the bills pass, while production would fall by 28 trillion won.

This, in return, would weigh on the livelihood of the nation’s middle-class, it predicted.

“In order to maintain sustainable growth and to achieve balance between different labor groups, alternative solutions are needed,” the representatives said.

Lee of KOCHAM said these opinions should be properly reflected in the government’s policies and the parliamentary legislation.

“Our goal is not to delay economic democratization,” he said. “But these pledges must not eclipse the business sentiment in any way when growth is so critical.”

The president also knows, he added, that economic democratization realized by sacrificing economic growth is far from ideal: “In the end, the administration itself will be evaluated for its tangible economic achievements, not by the level of economic democratization.”

Global rivalry was another reason the government should refrain from biased policies, the representatives said, noting that an excessively stringent regulatory environment would only serve to benefit competitors such as Japan and China.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)