South Korea to create 260,000 science jobs
By Kang Seung-woo
The science ministry unveiled a plan, Tuesday, to create jobs in the areas of science technology and information and communications technology (ICT) for 260,000 people in the time of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
To this end, the Ministry of Science and ICT came up with four forwarding strategies and 14 detailed assignments that will drive the plan.
The plan came as the ministry is set to take advantage of those sectors that have higher potential to create jobs than others thanks to the proliferation of open platforms as well as the advent of the fourth major industrial era.
First of all, the government will put top priority on building infrastructure for job creation such as intelligence information-specialized graduate schools and software-focused universities.
“The government will reform and expand local universities’ information technology research center (ITRC), which we expect will employ 6,000 by 2022. We will also increase the number of software-focused schools from 20 to 30 by 2019, expected to nurture 20,000 talented students,” said a ministry official.
The ministry added that it plans to produce 10 000 cybersecurity experts by 2022 and 800 high-quality human resources in nanotechnology every year, while improving regulations on new industries and services.
When it comes to science technology-based job creation, the government plans to designate five universities, where lab research performances translate into money-making ventures and eventual hiring.
The ministry also said 12,000 jobs will be created by 2022 through its intensive fostering on promising fields such as nano- and bio-technology and localization of research equipment.
In order to create jobs in the ICT industry, the Moon Jae-in administration will focus on nurturing ICT-integrated new industries: artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), big data and cloud, all of which are the key elements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
It also seeks to commercialize the fifth-generation (5G) network and 10GB of high-internet services by 2019 and 2018, respectively, which it believes will drive employment in derived sectors.
With regard to improving quality and opportunity of jobs, the government is now transferring some irregular employees at 25 state-run institutes to full-time workers.
“As a ministry to lead the nation’s innovation amid the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we will put forth great efforts to contribute to job creations,” Minister You Young-min.