Green Growth Strategy to Spur Job Creation

This is the full speech Labor Minister Yim Tae-hee gave at the G-20 Employment and Labor Ministerial Meeting in Washington, Wednesday (KST) ― ED.

To begin with, I will briefly talk about the Korean government's policy response to the current employment crisis.

Next, I will introduce the Korean government's policies on skills development and preparation for green jobs.

I will then conclude with a brief mentioning on efforts to strengthen international cooperation in the area of skills development.

Response to Economic and Employment Crisis

As the Korean government responded swiftly and decisively to the global economic crisis, Korea is now witnessing the signs of economic recovery.

Faced with the employment crisis, the Korean government expanded its fiscal spending last year to create more jobs including those in the public sector, to increase opportunities for skills development, and to strengthen employment support services.

In particular, a historic agreement was reached in February last year among labor, management, government and civic groups to share and retain jobs in an effort to overcome the crisis.

Despite these efforts, difficulties remain in the labor market. In particular, vulnerable groups such as the youth, women and the aged, and the working poor are bearing the brunt of the hardship.

Against this backdrop, the Korean government has placed job creation on the top priority of its national agenda.

Starting from this January, a national employment strategy meeting has been convened by president every month to review and implement both micro and macro policies. Also, a long-term comprehensive national employment strategy will be established by June.

Skills Development Strategy

The Ministry of Labor will also be reshaped as the Ministry of Employment and Labor to strengthen its employment function.

When faced with the crisis, we responded promptly. As we are overcoming the crisis, I believe it is time for us to prepare for the challenges that lie ahead.

With the global economic integration and technological innovation ever accelerating, we are compelled to strengthen education and training for workers to better prepare them for the changing environment of the labor market.

We need to equip workers with skills that the future labor market will need in areas such as clean energy and the environment.

For the past decades, the Korean government has made significant investment in education and vocational training. This was based on the belief that they are the driving forces for economic growth and the keys to achieving balanced growth and welfare.

The Korean government enacted the Act on Vocational Training in 1967 with the initiation of the national economic development project.

In 1976, the Framework Act on Vocational Training was enacted, which obliged the employers to provide vocational training to employees. Training levies were imposed in case of violation.

This scheme was incorporated into the Employment Insurance when the EI Act was introduced in 1995, but the main structure of the employer having to provide training to workers always remained intact.

Thanks to such efforts, Korea became a country known for its unmatched human resources. Outstanding human resources have often been cited as the key motivator to the miracle of the economic development in Korea.

Green Job Strategy

Distinguished Ministers,

Along with the challenges of overcoming current crisis, we are now faced with a critical task ahead of us. It is a transition to the green economy.

The Korean government adopted the Green Growth Strategy in 2009 as a new paradigm to create jobs by revitalizing the labor market after the crisis, and to solidify a virtuous cycle of growth and employment.

The Presidential Committee on Green Growth was established in February 2009. It has been implementing green growth strategies and a 5-year green growth plan spanning from 2009 to 2013.

To bolster the government-wide effort toward green growth, the Ministry of Labor unveiled specific measures in November 2009. These measures were introduced in coordination with relevant Ministries to create green jobs and nurture human resources for the next five years.

The foremost task is to develop human resources for green jobs through education and training.

First, the Korean government plans to train 100,000 core experts for green industry that incorporates green energy and environment by investing 1 billion dollars over 5 years.

Second, retraining will be reinforced to help the transition of workers from declining industries to the green industry.

Workers in existing key industries such as automobile, steel, and shipbuilding are being provided retraining opportunities for new skills. Incentives are given to leading green companies, their partners, employers and universities to form green HRD consortium.

At the same time, the curriculum of public training institutions is shifting its focus. It aims to educate the green workforce that will enable cast out workers from non-green industries to make swift transition into green jobs.

In addition, the national skills qualification system is going through constant improvements to embrace green skills and green jobs.

Enhanced International Cooperation

For the past decades, Korea has made remarkable progress in the area of skills development, which started with aids from advanced countries.

In order to share what we have gained, the Korean government is now significantly expanding its support for skills development in developing countries.

Starting from early to mid 1980s, the Korean government has supported establishment of vocational training centers in its partner countries and provided instructors and training facilities. Also, the government has taken various cooperative activities such as dispatching experts or inviting trainees through Human Resources Development Korea, an affiliated agency of the Ministry of Labor.

In an effort to augment its cooperation, the Korean government plans to build the International Skills Development Center in 2011 that is to be completed in 2012. This center will function as a hub to transfer Korea's accumulated capacity and experience of skills development and relevant systems to other countries.

Direct training will be provided to the trainers and experts in developing countries.

Fellow Ministers,

To cite a Korean proverb, there is a saying that "To go fast, go alone. To go far, go along".

In order to go along and to address the challenges of global development imbalances, the advanced economies in particular need to assume global responsibility.

In the G20 Summit held in Pittsburgh last year, our leaders shared the views that developed countries should support developing countries to build and strengthen their capacity in the skills development.

From Korea's experience of economic development, I am confident that skills development is the most important and practical area for the cooperation between developed and developing countries.

I would like to conclude by proposing that G20 countries accelerate their efforts to further consolidate international cooperation in this. I believe that the ILO will be able to serve as a main channel and expect the ILO could play a bigger role in this regard.

I hope that the past two days of discussions will continue and develop through subsequent meetings. And I look forward to a coordinated effort of the G-20 countries to create more and better jobs at the summit to be held in Canada and in Korea.

Once again, I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to the Secretary of Labor of the United States, Madame Hilda L. Solis, and her staff for their hard work in putting this meeting together.