경제부총리 긴급현안간담회…일자리쇼크•미중무역전쟁 대응
South Korea's jobs growth is at its lowest in a decade.
The nation's top economic policymakers met today to look at possible reasons why and how to turn things around.
They also said they'll be closely watching the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China.
Our Won Jung-hwan has this report.
South Korea's Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon and the heads of ministries related to the economy have gathered together to discuss the urgent economic issues impacting the country.
They started off with the recent jobs report which was released on Wednesday.
The latest job figures by Statistics Korea showed the country only saw its job growth remain in the 100-thousand level in June,... the fifth straight month it has been in that range.
While confronting the issue of job creation,… Kim drew up a set of measures to boost domestic demand during the second half of the year to help create more jobs in the country.
"Job creation numbers are not good, and the employment situation is the worst since the financial crisis. Since the sluggish employment is closely related to our everyday lives, the figures are really depressing. The situation is not likely to improve in a short amount of time,… so the creation of new jobs should be led by innovative growth."
During this meeting, the minister brought up the matter of the hike in the country's legal minimum wage.
Kim mentioned the possibility that raising the minimum wage had a serious impact on the job front.
He said there is a need to be more flexible regarding raising the minimum wage in the future. The minimum wage is expected to reach nearly 9 U.S. dollars per hour by 2020.
Another critical issue that was discussed during the meeting today, was the escalating trade war between the United States and China.
The government is worried because the growing trade spat between the world's two superpowers could wreak havoc on Korean exporters as the U.S. and China are Korea's top two export markets.
Won Jung-hwan, Arirang News.
