 |
| President Park Geun-hye speaks during a Cabinet meeting, Tuesday. / Yonhap |
By Kang Seung-woo
President Park Geun-hye called for labor market reform Tuesday to create more jobs for young people and revive the sluggish economy.
"We must address income disparity and inflexibility in the labor market. These efforts will lead to more jobs and stronger economic growth," Park said during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae.
Park said more than 1 million young adults have difficulty finding jobs, and the planned extension of the retirement age and companies' unwillingness to introduce a peak wage system will further prevent them from landing jobs next year.
"The nation's sustainable growth depends on tackling youth unemployment. In this regard, we should reform the labor market, no matter what."
According to Statistics Korea, the unemployment rate for young people between the ages of 15 and 29 was 10.2 percent in June, compared with the overall jobless rate of 3.9 percent in the same period.
The President's call came as the government and the ruling Saenuri Party are making concerted efforts to overhaul the labor market to reduce the overall number of non-regular employees, with little progress being made so far.
In addition, Park has vowed to revise regulations to encourage the public sector to hire more employees on a permanent basis and diminish the gap in benefits between regular and non-regular staff.
According to the government, the number of non-regular workers reached 6 million in March, which accounts for 32 percent of the nation's entire workforce.
As part of the reform plan, the government is pushing the peak wage system that offers a job security guarantee, but gradually cuts the salary for older employees after a certain age.
However, unionized workers strongly oppose the wage system, denouncing it as the government's means to oppress workers. As a result, they have refused to hold a three-way meeting of labor, management and government representatives since April.
At the same time, Park told ministers to focus on improving the nation's economy and carry out government reforms rather than pursuing their own political interests.
Her remark seems to target some Cabinet members, some of whom are likely to run for a parliamentary seat.
Among Cabinet members, Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Yoo Ki-june, Education Minister Hwang Yoo-yea and Gender Equality and Family Minister Kim Hee-jung are expected to run in the general election.
Cabinet members must step down 90 days ahead of the election -- the deadline is Jan. 14 -- if they plan to run.
Meanwhile, Park did not mention the allegations that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) spied on Korean citizens in 2012 after purchasing a hacking program from an Italian firm, thus avoiding a conflict with the opposition party.
The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) suspects the spy agency may have used the hacking program to benefit Park during the 2012 presidential election.
![[INTERVIEW] How AmazeVR revolutionizes aespa's LYNK-POP concert](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/4431833759c44bdaa414cb314e90f2fe.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
