Posting Analysis of March Employment Trends and Policy Directions on Personal SNS
Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Strategy and Finance. (Image source=Yonhap News)
[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Strategy and Finance, stated on the 14th, "Employment improvement will continue beyond next month," and added, "We will focus our policy capabilities on supporting the expansion of quality private sector jobs."
On the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Hong posted on his social media (SNS) an analysis of the 'March Employment Trends' released by Statistics Korea and shared the future policy direction. He emphasized the significance of the fact that the number of employed persons increased by 314,000 last month to reach 26,923,000, marking a positive turnaround after one year and one month.
He presented five key features of last month's employment trends: ▲an increase in the economic activity participation rate of the working-age population aged 15 and over ▲an increase in youth employment ▲recovery in the number of service sector employees, which had been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 employment shock ▲an increase in regular employees who secured relatively stable jobs ▲and the prospect of further employment improvement beyond next month.
Notably, the last feature specifies that overcoming future quarantine risks and other challenges will only be possible by creating quality jobs in the private sector. Deputy Prime Minister Hong emphasized, "Despite the improvement in last month's employment situation, the current employment situation remains severe," and highlighted, "Especially the youth unemployment rate at 10.0% remains higher than before the COVID-19 crisis, which is the biggest challenge to be resolved."
While stating, "Employment improvement will continue beyond next month," Hong also mentioned, "We have entered a critical point that could determine whether the quarantine situation transitions to the fourth wave, and since the biggest risk factor in the employment market is the quarantine situation, we will never relax our seriousness and vigilance."
He said, "We will promptly and meticulously implement employment measures, including 260,000 direct jobs included in the supplementary budget, and focus our policy capabilities on supporting the expansion of quality private sector jobs."
To create an environment for generating quality private sector jobs, he announced that starting with the 'Economic Organization Heads Meeting' on the 16th, communication with companies will be more active. He also stated that efforts will be made to steadily promote the spread of the second venture boom, the Big 3 industries (system semiconductors, future cars, bio-health), and new industry development such as DNA (data, network, AI) industries.
He added that vocational training will be strengthened to ensure timely supply of necessary personnel in sectors expected to expand employment, such as semiconductors and shipbuilding, and efforts will be made to expand quality jobs in promising fields preferred by the youth, such as digital and green new deal sectors.
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