Frontrunner Moon vows create 1.31 mln jobs

Published : Mar 13, 2017 - 14:14 Updated : Mar 13, 2017 - 14:14

Presidential frontrunner Moon Jae-in said Monday if elected he would create 1.31 million jobs by allocating more government budget.

The former head of the Democratic Party said he would give budget priority to job creation and reduce work hours to achieve the goal of adding 810,000 public jobs and 500,000 private sector jobs.

Moon Jae-in, former head of the Democratic Party (Yonhap)

"Although we need 21 trillion won ($18.3 billion) annually to create (810,000 public jobs), we do not lack money," Moon said during a ceremony to launch the job creation committee on his campaign team.

"We have more than enough if we have the willingness to create jobs, and adjust priorities in our budget plans."

Moon claimed that South Korea is expected to face a sharp decline in the number of economically active population starting in 2020, which indicates that the unemployment issue can eventually be eased.

The presidential hopeful said the country can also create more jobs in the private sector by limiting work hours and inducing employers to instead hire more workers. (Yonhap)