By Park Hyong-ki
The government has come under growing criticism for allegedly arm-twisting state firms to hire part-time workers, which many analysts consider is a stopgap measure aimed at improving short-term job data.
The administration is expected to unveil a plan soon to increase the hiring of young people at state-owned enterprises amid rising joblessness and sluggish corporate investment.
It will announce the plan as soon as Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon returns from the G20 finance ministers' summit and holds a related meeting here, according to the ministry, Sunday.
However, analysts said the government seemed aimed only at trying to "lift up" poor employment figures with a short-term plan that does not seem "viable or realistic" in the long run.
Without a rise in productivity followed by investment, it will be difficult to create jobs, they said.
"How can companies create jobs while they are being cautious about investing in the current environment amid few signs of increased productivity?" said University of Seoul economist Yun Chang-hyun. "There is a limit to increasing the number of jobs only by state-owned enterprises because they need to finance most of them through taxes."
There are no specific details or numbers yet.
However, during a National Assembly audit of state agencies, lawmakers, mostly from the opposition parties, criticized the government for forcing companies such as Incheon International Airport and Korea Land & Housing Corp. to hire up to 100,000 people by the end of this year.
The government's "ordinance" to the companies includes not only recruiting young people, but also retired senior citizens, the lawmakers claimed.
Their criticism has increased toward the plan to focus on hiring interns, who work for about five to six months and whose status can be changed to regular full-time employees later.
This basic roadmap unveiled during the audit comes after Minister Kim met regional administrative officials Oct. 9. He said the government would draw a roadmap in a week that could help improve employment in areas hit by corporate restructuring and industry downturns. Such industries include shipbuilding, automobiles and logistics.
President Moon Jae-in said at a meeting on job creation, Oct. 4, that even though the government has put its policy priority on job creation, it remained "unsuccessful" in reviving the market.
The number of new positions created in Sept 2018 was 45,000, up from a year earlier, according to the state-run Statistics Korea. This was drastically up from 3,000 in August and 5,000 in July.
However, it was still under the average of 300,000 jobs per month over the past years. Additionally, the country managed to create only 17,000 more jobs in the third quarter of 2018, the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2009.
The average number of the unemployed reached 1.06 million per month from July to Sept. 2018, the second-highest average after the third quarter of 1999 when it was 1.33 million.
In July, when the market only created 5,000 jobs, which many said was "shocking," the government said it would have to lower the average threshold to 100,000 to 150,000 new jobs a month given the current economic conditions.
Analysts said the country needed to shift its focus on developing an ecosystem using its technological advantage that could in turn help create new industries and jobs.
"An important strategy will be needed to boost the ecosystem for technology startups, which can generate significant high-tech job growth in sectors such as smart cities, cybersecurity and robotics," Rajiv Biswas, chief economist of IHS Markit Asia in Singapore, said in an email.
The government has come under growing criticism for allegedly arm-twisting state firms to hire part-time workers, which many analysts consider is a stopgap measure aimed at improving short-term job data.
The administration is expected to unveil a plan soon to increase the hiring of young people at state-owned enterprises amid rising joblessness and sluggish corporate investment.
It will announce the plan as soon as Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon returns from the G20 finance ministers' summit and holds a related meeting here, according to the ministry, Sunday.
However, analysts said the government seemed aimed only at trying to "lift up" poor employment figures with a short-term plan that does not seem "viable or realistic" in the long run.
Without a rise in productivity followed by investment, it will be difficult to create jobs, they said.
"How can companies create jobs while they are being cautious about investing in the current environment amid few signs of increased productivity?" said University of Seoul economist Yun Chang-hyun. "There is a limit to increasing the number of jobs only by state-owned enterprises because they need to finance most of them through taxes."
There are no specific details or numbers yet.
However, during a National Assembly audit of state agencies, lawmakers, mostly from the opposition parties, criticized the government for forcing companies such as Incheon International Airport and Korea Land & Housing Corp. to hire up to 100,000 people by the end of this year.
The government's "ordinance" to the companies includes not only recruiting young people, but also retired senior citizens, the lawmakers claimed.
Their criticism has increased toward the plan to focus on hiring interns, who work for about five to six months and whose status can be changed to regular full-time employees later.
This basic roadmap unveiled during the audit comes after Minister Kim met regional administrative officials Oct. 9. He said the government would draw a roadmap in a week that could help improve employment in areas hit by corporate restructuring and industry downturns. Such industries include shipbuilding, automobiles and logistics.
President Moon Jae-in said at a meeting on job creation, Oct. 4, that even though the government has put its policy priority on job creation, it remained "unsuccessful" in reviving the market.
The number of new positions created in Sept 2018 was 45,000, up from a year earlier, according to the state-run Statistics Korea. This was drastically up from 3,000 in August and 5,000 in July.
However, it was still under the average of 300,000 jobs per month over the past years. Additionally, the country managed to create only 17,000 more jobs in the third quarter of 2018, the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2009.
The average number of the unemployed reached 1.06 million per month from July to Sept. 2018, the second-highest average after the third quarter of 1999 when it was 1.33 million.
In July, when the market only created 5,000 jobs, which many said was "shocking," the government said it would have to lower the average threshold to 100,000 to 150,000 new jobs a month given the current economic conditions.
Analysts said the country needed to shift its focus on developing an ecosystem using its technological advantage that could in turn help create new industries and jobs.
"An important strategy will be needed to boost the ecosystem for technology startups, which can generate significant high-tech job growth in sectors such as smart cities, cybersecurity and robotics," Rajiv Biswas, chief economist of IHS Markit Asia in Singapore, said in an email.
