The Ministry of Employment and Labor said on Monday it would draft a road map for boosting the country’s employment rate to 70 percent, from the current 60 percent, in five years in its policy report to President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition committee.
Promoting job sharing, offering jobs for youths, women and the elderly, and improving the quality of workers’ lives will be included in the ministry’s drive for job creation.
The two sides also discussed ways to increase cooperation among related ministries and seek public support to push the government’s envisioned plans.
Stressing that the ideological divide on labor was nearing its end, the handover team said it was time for the Labor Ministry to play a crucial role in creating and securing stable jobs.
“The world no longer has a (dividing line between) conservative and progressive, and no left and right. How to create new jobs has become one of the most important issues in our society and a role of the Labor Ministry,” said transition committee deputy chief Chin Young.
The ministry said it plans to reduce Korea’s work hours to the OECD average by 2020 in line with Park’s campaign pledges.
To shorten Korea’s notoriously long working hours, Park vowed to curb the corporate practice of forcing employees to work on weekends.
In 2010, Korean labors worked 2,193 hours on average, more than 400 hours longer than the OECD average of 1,749 hours. The government plans to offer incentives to companies to reduce work hours and create new jobs to keep up productivity.
On youth unemployment, the government said it would establish funds with companies to support business start-ups and create 1 million jobs in the public sector.
In the afternoon, the Korea Food and Drug Administration said it would strengthen the food-tracking system and take punitive measures against traders of hazardous food.
Food-related crimes were one of the “four social evils” listed by the president-elect that threaten public safety. It also plans to build an integrated database on imported food for related ministries to share information and improve food safety.
By Cho Chung-un (
christory@heraldcorp.com)
