Hong Nam-ki "1.27 Million Jobs Created Over 5 Years, Youth Employment Experience Still Challenging"

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kim Hyewon] Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, diagnosed on the 13th that "although 1.27 million jobs have been created over the past five years, the employment situation felt by our youth remains difficult."

Deputy Prime Minister Hong made this assessment of the Moon Jae-in administration's job policies over the past five years in a post on social networking services (SNS) immediately after the Statistics Korea's announcement of the 'March Employment Trends' on the same day.

Hong introduced, "Despite challenges such as population decline and COVID-19, the creation of 1.27 million new jobs from May 2017 to last month is an achievement of this administration," adding, "The accumulated efforts over five years have led to a recent employment rate (seasonally adjusted) of 68.4%, marking an all-time high."

He continued, "There has also been significant growth in qualitative aspects such as regular employment and employment insurance enrollment," explaining, "The number of employment insurance subscribers increased by 1.84 million from 12.8 million in May 2017 to 14.64 million last month."

However, Deputy Prime Minister Hong noted, "Although the youth employment rate is good in terms of indicators, the employment situation felt by our youth in the field remains difficult," and added, "The employment situation in vulnerable sectors and groups affected by COVID-19, such as retail, accommodation and food services, and temporary or daily workers, is still challenging."

He further added, "While the peak seems to have passed, the spread of COVID-19 continues, inflationary pressures remain high, and external uncertainties are expanding due to lockdowns in major Chinese cities."