영세･종속적 자영업자의 위기극복을 위한 사회정의의 모색 ― 법적 관점에서의 시론 ―

According to the constitutional economic order, the economic activities of the business operators are guaranteed in principle, but the government can regulate them with certain social considerations. Among such legal devices are the competition law. Competition law promotes fair competition among business operators to promote business activities and protect consumers. However, The competition law is mainly targeted at entrepreneurs, so they did not pay much attention to small businesses called so-called self-employed. In other words, self-employed persons, by self-responsibility principle, choose their own risk, bear responsibilities and carry out their own business, and no special measures have been taken by the state to regulate their business or to protect them. However, due to the intensification of competition and the rise in rents, the economic situation of small and dependent self-employed persons has become increasingly unstable. Meanwhile, the recent minimum wage increase has heightened social interest in the economic difficulties they face. In the case of small self-employed people, they are exposed to unlimited competition and are often in a critical situation. Dependent self-employed are dependent on other business operators, their status is unstable, and sometimes they are treated unfairly. They have not been able to earn the right income due to the competition, and they have been voluntarily working longer hours to earn more income. If self-employed is shut down, self-employed persons are not provided with unemployment insurance benefits. And they have to deal with work-related accidents on their own. In order to solve such problems of small and dependent self-employed people, social justice requires (a), in economic area, to secure fair competition and to guarantee freedom to ensure appropriate income and (b), in social area, to extend social protection to them.