Creation of quality jobs is No. 1 economic policy: BOK chief

The chief of Korea's central bank on Friday urged additional efforts to create quality jobs, calling it an ultimate goal of economic policies.

"The reason our society pays close attention to employment numbers is because job security is closely related to the welfare

of all major economic players, such as companies, households and people," Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said in a monthly meeting with leading economists here."Also from a point of view that the ultimate goal of economic growth is the prosperity and stability for each and every person, job security can be said to be the focal aim of economic policies," he added.

The statistics office said the country's jobless rate came to a six-year high of 4.9 percent in February, while its youth jobless rate jumped to a record high of 12.5 percent.

The BOK chief, however, said the latest readings did not cause an alarm to go off, insisting the rise was partly caused by what he called seasonal factors.

"It is true that finding a job remains difficult, but in February, certain special factors, such as the great movement of the population around the Lunar New Year's holiday and a large number of people applying for the national exam for public workers, partly contributed to the rise," he told the meeting.

Still, the top central banker noted conditions in the job market may continue to deteriorate, partly due to advances in new technologies, including artificial intelligence that may replace humans even in the most delicate and demanding jobs.

"We must quickly begin preparing for a new era as the rate of technological development is continuing to accelerate," Lee said.

He also urged innovation in the education system to help people better prepare for what future jobs will demand.

"The current education system has many limits in preparing people for changes in the future as it simply relays the information and knowledge needed in certain jobs," the BOK governor said. (Yonhap)