Figures released this week by the national statistics office showed deteriorating employment conditions for low-income earners.

While a growing number of workers have been paid less than the minimum wage in recent years, the number of day laborers has been on a steady decrease, according to data from Statistics Korea.

As of August, about 2.27 million workers, or 12.1 percent of all employees in the country, got less than the minimum wage of 5,210 won ($4.70) per month for this year. The number marked a sharp rise from the 1.7 million at the end of 2012.

This increase reflects the worsening difficulties of local businesses, particularly small workplaces, which are struggling with a prolonged economic downturn. More than half of the workers being paid less than the minimum wage are hired at workplaces with less than five employees.

Under these conditions, it may seem unfair to blame government supervisors for neglecting their duties to investigate minimum wage violations. The current law calls for violators to be subject to up to three years in jail and considerable fines. The strict implementation of the law would cause many small workplaces to close, further reducing the number of jobs for marginalized workers.

Figures from the state statistics office showed the number of daily laborers in the country fell to the lowest level in 26 years last month. As of October, about 1.6 million workers were paid on a daily basis under a one-year or shorter-term contract. The number of daily workers, which peaked at 2.5 million in 2002, has fallen since 2008.

There may be a few factors behind the continuous decline. But many employment experts here attribute this tendency to a decrease in the number of jobs available in the slumping construction and farming sectors.

A trilateral committee of labor, management and government representatives decided in June to raise the minimum wage by 7.1 percent to 5,580 won per hour for next year. At the time, corporate representatives walked out of a vote on the compromise deal worked out by government-appointed members, criticizing the increase rate as “ignoring reality.” But it is also true that the increased minimum wage still remains short of the level needed to meet the minimum cost of living.

State supervisors are now tasked with the thorny task of prodding workplaces to observe the minimum wage, but not to the point of pushing them out of business. The government should also work out effective measures to help low-paid workers earn more and lift themselves out of poverty. The scheme of matching a cash bounty from state coffers with earned income should be implemented on a larger scale.

Increasing support for low-income earners trying to work and improve their living standards will be an efficient way of augmenting the social safety net.