청 "Why label Income-led Growth as a failure... We achieved meaningful results"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Park Soo-hyun, Senior Secretary for Public Communication at the Blue House, defended the Moon Jae-in administration's 'income-led growth' policy on the 20th, stating that it was a "policy that achieved meaningful results even in the COVID-19 era" and urged not to brand it as a failure.

On the same day, Park posted a message titled 'The President's Story Not in the Briefing' on SNS, saying, "Why label income-led growth as a failure?"

Park explained, "Income-led growth is a strategy designed to increase household income, expand social safety nets and welfare, and increase investment in people to induce mid- to long-term growth," adding, "It was planned as a bold policy vision for a paradigm shift in the Korean economy."

He pointed out that before the Moon administration took office, the Korean economic paradigm relied on a 'trickle-down effect' growth model, which caused imbalances between corporate income and household income, as well as between large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises, and said, "The Moon Jae-in government declared a transition to a 'people-centered economy' and promoted income-led growth."

In particular, Park emphasized that distribution also improved during the Moon administration's term, which pursued income-led growth. He said, "The labor income share increased continuously from 62.0% in 2017 to 63.5% in 2018, 65.5% in 2019, and 67.5% in 2020," adding, "The 2020 figure is the highest since the Bank of Korea began compiling the statistics."