[Free Speech Forum] Small Businesses’ Blood, Sweat, and Tears... Are Blanket Business Regulations the Only Answer?

The restrictions last only 2 hours, but for small business owners, their right to make a living is at stake

Despite considerable disease-control effects, complaints are erupting in many places

There is an urgent need for a fundamental solution that encourages citizens’ voluntary participation

As the COVID-19 crisis drags on, small business owners are complaining of economic hardship caused by a sharp decline in sales. Countless stores have shut down due to burdensome fixed costs such as rent. In particular, restrictions on the business hours of multi-use facilities have become a major factor making life even harder for small business owners.

The efforts of the public health authorities to prevent the spread of COVID-19 deserve high praise. It is also true that they have achieved considerable results. However, it is equally true that inducing social distancing by minimizing people’s after-work nighttime activities through “business hour restrictions” has made life difficult for many small business owners. Moreover, there is insufficient scientific evidence that this policy can prevent infections. With little evidence to support it, the forced regulation of small business owners’ operating hours has led to complaints that they are being asked to make one-sided sacrifices.

Most small self-employed business owners hit by COVID-19 complain of the difficulties caused by restrictions on business hours and express resentment toward the policy. Although the restriction from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. amounts to only 2 hours, they say those are hours on which their livelihood depends. Their position is that, because limiting business hours actually creates a balloon effect in which more people crowd in between 8 and 9 p.m., allowing businesses to stay open until midnight so customers can be dispersed would be a better option both for COVID-19 prevention and for store sales.

It is also unclear whether the government’s regulation of the operating hours of multi-use facilities has significantly contributed to COVID-19 prevention. After the second major wave of COVID-19, a third major wave eventually broke out amid gaps created by the disease-control authorities’ and some citizens’ lack of awareness and complacency. As fatigue has accumulated over a system that continually demands sacrifice only from small business owners, criticism of the government and resentment toward it are growing.

Going forward, until COVID-19 is completely brought to an end, the difficult economic situation facing small business owners is unlikely to improve easily. Subsidy policies such as emergency disaster relief payments are meaningful in that they ease the immediate burden on struggling small business owners, but they are, after all, only stopgap measures. A more fundamental solution must be found. Easing restrictions on business hours may be a better option. It would also be worth considering the introduction of a “self-selected business hours system,” under which total operating hours are set, but businesses may freely determine their hours according to the characteristics of their industry. It is also necessary to consider shifting the focus of COVID-19 disease control from uniform “business restrictions” to effective “social distancing.” Disease-control measures need to be reexamined at a fundamental level.

As the pandemic drags on and the prolonged “social distancing policy” dulls the public’s sense of consensus regarding disease-control measures, restricting business hours and forcing non-face-to-face activities are ultimately contributing to public sentiment that only “I end up losing out.” Small business owners’ sense of loss and anxiety over whether they are being “forced to sacrifice” is also great. The decisive and clear actions of the public health authorities to block infections must come first, but this is also an important moment in which citizens’ voluntary participation and their ability to endure and cooperate over the long term matter. One hopes that the disease-control guidelines will have a clearer direction and include carefully considered details.

Minjin Cha, Intern Researcher, Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: [자유발언대] 소상공인 피ㆍ땀ㆍ눈물 ... 일률적 영업규제 밖에 없나

Author: Min-jin Cha

Date: 2021-02-25

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=free_opinion&pn=12&idx=23530