Presiding Over Public Institution Heads Meeting Under Ministry of Employment on 29th
"Employment Retention, the Core Task to Focus On"
Applications for Support Funds for Special Employment and Leave Workers Open from 1st Next Month
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Lee Jae-gap, Minister of Employment and Labor, expressed his determination on the 29th to make every effort to maintain jobs amid the rapidly deteriorating employment situation caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) crisis.
On the same day, Minister Lee presided over the 'Meeting of Heads of Public Institutions under the Ministry of Employment and Labor' at the Seoul Employment and Labor Office and said, "Protecting even a single job is the only way out and solution to the crisis we are facing."
Last month, the number of employed people decreased by 476,000 compared to the same period last year, marking the largest decline since February 1999, right after the foreign exchange crisis. The employment rate and economic activity participation rate also fell by 1.4 percentage points and 1.6 percentage points, respectively.
Regarding this, Minister Lee emphasized, "It is difficult to predict how much greater the employment shock will be and when we will come out of this dark tunnel. In this emergency situation, the core task we must focus on is 'protecting jobs.'"
He continued, "The government is making every effort to protect jobs through the 'Employment Crisis Response Team,' which involves 14 ministries."
The Ministry of Employment and Labor, the main department in charge of jobs, is promoting various employment stabilization measures such as expanding the payment of employment retention subsidies and adding special employment support industries. Starting from the 1st of next month, applications will be accepted for emergency employment stabilization subsidies of up to 1.5 million won for special-type workers (special employment types), freelancers, and unpaid leave workers affected by COVID-19.
The Korean-style unemployment assistance system, the National Employment Support System, will be implemented from January 1st next year. It will provide job search promotion allowances and customized employment services to low-income job seekers, youth, and small-scale self-employed individuals. From December, employment insurance is expected to be applied to artists who have contracts with business owners and service providers.
Minister Lee said, "The government resumed recruitment procedures that were postponed due to COVID-19, starting with the Grade 5 public service examination on the 16th," and added, "We will overcome the employment crisis by directly supplying 550,000+α jobs in the public sector this year."
He also stated, "In preparation for the post-COVID era, we will actively discover job tasks in the digital, non-face-to-face, and AI fields to overcome the current employment crisis and respond proactively to the trends of the times."
He urged, "Subsidiary institutions should also be fully prepared to expand training in future promising fields such as AI, big data, and smart factories, and to enhance job matching to support innovative employment support services."
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