This article was first published 11th May 2017 – this is our excerpt (full credit to Emma Rumney)
Following the election of the new South Korean President Moon Jae, a pledge to create 810,000 public sector jobs was made.
Moon's victory, led by the impeachment of the former president Park Geun-Hye, ended almost ten years of conservative rule and is a fresh direction for South Korea's economy.
To address the record-high youth unemployment Moon added: “Above all, I will take care of job creation.”
This pledge starts with creating 810,000 public sector jobs in the next five years, increasing the number of firefighters, police officers, teachers, and social workers.
This pledge is based on an immediate $9bn supplementary budget focused on jobs in both the public and private sectors, and through reducing current public sector working hours and ensuring workers use their vacation time.
Moon believes his plan will create an average of 500,000 new jobs in the private sector each year.
Another pledge is to increase the minimum wage, welfare payments, and cut working hours.
Based on the country’s official statistics office (Statistics Korea), the current unemployment rate is sitting at 4.2% – youth unemployment is roughly double that.
Most of the national jobs in South Korea are provided by family-run conglomerates (chaebols). Moon pledged to overhaul the chaebols, making them more transparent, democratic, and accountable.
Another pledge includes reforming presidential powers, including the relocation of the presidential office to a central government compound, which will improve communication with the public.
The first thing will be trying to grow the country’s economy which has been soaring in recent decades and is expected to grow 2.6% in 2017.
