South Korea's prime minister has moved to reassure an increasingly concerned public that the government is doing all it can to tackle the unemployment crisis.
Lee Nak-yon also looked to quell worries about the recent minimum wage hike and the implementation of a shorter working week.
Hwang Hojun reports.
South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said Thursday that the Moon administration's number one goal is job creation.
And, addressing critics of government spending, he said so far the lion's share of support has gone to the private sector.
"There is often this misunderstanding that we're only creating jobs in the public sector. But we used 83% of this year's 17-trillion-won budget to help private companies hire more. The government only spent 17% of it."
Lee was speaking at a special ceremony hosted at the Blue House by the Ministry of Employment and Labor.
He said the government is doing all it can to create jobs.
In particular, he said that simultaneously raising the minimum wage, reducing working hours, and encouraging temp-to-perm transitions... will result in not only more jobs but higher quality ones.
He did note, however, that the brunt of the changes might be borne by certain groups including young part-time workers, day laborers, and small business owners.
Lee insisted that the government should not and will not ignore their pain, no matter how beneficial that change may be,... and pledged to do its best to help them through.
Next week the maximum work week will be shortened from 68 hours to 52.
Lee stressed that the change won't be too painful for businesses... because at first the rule will only apply to companies with 300 employees or more.
"If you think about it, we started the five-day work week in 2004. Compared to that, the reduction of working hours is a small change. Working five days a week means 40 hours. And setting the work week at 52 hours simply means no more than 12 hours of overtime."
But to alleviate the burden, Prime Minister noted that the government will take the advice of the Korea Employers' Federation, which has suggested a six-month grace period to help companies make a smooth transition.
Hwang Hojun, Arirang News.
