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Meeting for job creation held by the
government, labor and management, and civil society
On Wednesday December 22, 2004, the
3rd meeting of the Job Creation Committee and the 2nd meeting of the Special Committee to Tackle Youth Unemployment were held
at the Central Government Complex. The meetings were presided by Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan and participated by representatives
of NGOs, labor and management, and academia and government members (ministers of related ministries).
The meetings
had largely three agendas: , , and .
The Committees are considering establishing a network system which manages
all the information related to overseas internship and trying to come up with a measure to systematically link pre-education
to employment after internship. The process of pre-education and employment after internship for youth overseas internship
program implemented by five ministries will be made more systematic. An employment program will be developed to provide English
education for nurses who are of high demand in U.S. hospitals and mangers and to provide Chinese education for accountants
needed by Korean companies in China. An internship program will also be developed on research of products that are likely
to be exported, fact-finding of the Korean Wave and measure to expand it, and research of culture and tourism contents. The
internship program will be managed by each organization in charge of a specific program.
[Consultative Body
for Human Resources Development by Industry] will be established and operated by representatives of industries, academia,
research institutes, and the government. Workforce demand and education and training demand by industry and region will be
identified and reflected in education and training plans of technical high schools, college, and universities. Support will
be given to schools to nurture tailored workforce and strengthen practical education necessary for workplaces by revamping
school curriculums to meet industrial demand and introducing credits on practical training at workplaces.
Along with
this, Job World, a comprehensive job experience center will be built from 2005 to 2010, in an effort to help youths set a
right view of job and provide them with comprehensive job information
The Clean Project aimed at improving
the working conditions of SMEs will be expanded and cooperation among large companies and SMEs will be strengthened through
improvement of the practice of unfair subcontracts, with a view to addressing the situation where young people tend to avoid
SMEs.
Welfare benefits to low-income, SME workers will be expanded. A worker who has worked long for an SME and does
not own a house will be provided with a house. Financial support will be given to SME employees and their children for high
school education. Low-income workers’ use of private welfare facilities will be assisted.
Financial assistance
to SMEs for technology development will be expanded from 197.8 billion won in 2004 to 220.5 billion won in 2005, in an effort
to strengthen SMEs’ technological competitiveness through technology innovation development project and consortiums
made of industry, academia and research institutes.
The Ministry of Labor has been selected
as one of the best performing government agencies as a result of the 2004 government performance evaluation.
On December 24, 2004, the government
held a performance evaluation session presided over by President Noh, Moo Hyun, in which the Policy Evaluation Committee under
the control of the Prime Minister reported its evaluation of the performance of 43 central administrative agencies. The evaluation
was made in five areas including major policies for 2004 and the Ministry of Labor was evaluated as showing good performance
in each of these areas.
About 170 high-ranking officials, including the prime minister, the head of the audit and
inspection board, ministers, vice ministers and administrators of central administrative agencies, and 30 members of the Policy
Evaluation Committee, attended the session.
The 43 central administrative agencies were evaluated in five areas such
as major policies (35 points), innovation management (35 points), people’s satisfaction (20 points), cooperation with
other agencies and legislation-related work (10 points) and policy publicity (±10 points).
The overall result of the
evaluation showed that the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry
and Energy, and the Ministry of Information and Communication among ministries and the Customs Service, the National Tax Service
and the Public Procurement Service among administrations got good evaluation.
In contrast, the Fair Trade Commission,
the Financial Supervisory Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade among ministries and the Ombudsman of Korea,
the Government Information Agency, and the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office among administrations were evaluated as
showing unsatisfactory performance.
Getting good evaluation in almost all of the five areas, the Ministry of Labor
was selected as one of the four best performing government agencies in the overall result.
By evaluation area, the
Ministry of Labor was evaluated as good in major policy tasks, good in innovation management, mediocre in people’s satisfaction,
and good in cooperation with other agencies and legislation-related work, and awarded additional points in policy publicity.
In particular, its project to support the creation of CLEAN workplaces was selected as a good policy example and thanks
to this project, the Ministry was given additional points.
As good examples of properly coping with changing policy
situations, the 40-hour workweek and its response to the problem of non-regular workers were introduced.
When 40-hour
workweek and non-regular workers emerged as major controversial issues during wage and collective negotiations this year,
the Ministry of Labor promptly decided its policy direction and prevented these problems from spreading further.
As
a visualized policy outcome, the fall in labor disputes was mentioned.
Despite the earlier prospect of difficult industrial
relations, the Ministry of Labor could reduce the number of labor disputes by dealing with labor disputes according to laws
and principles. (194 dispute cases in 2003 ？ 161 in 2004 up 17%, Ministry
of Labor)
With regard to people’s satisfaction, it was found that people’s satisfaction with civil services
provided by the Ministry of Labor has greatly increased.
However, satisfaction with its major policies was low, which
is why it was evaluated as mediocre in terms of overall satisfaction.
Continuous efforts are needed to improve the
overall satisfaction in future.
Opening of Migrant
Workers Center in Korea
On Thursday, December 23, 2004, the Migrant Workers’ Center in Korea was opened. It is located at Cosmo-medical Building in Daelim-dong Youngdeungpo-gu, Seoul. The Center is to provide migrant workers with systematic and comprehensive
grievance counseling and other service to help them adjust to living in Korea.
Minister of Labor, Kim Dae-hwan, chairperson
of the Environment and Labor Committee of the National Assembly Lee Kyung-jae, president of the Korea Labor Welfare Corporation
Bang Yong-seok, and heads of foreign missions in Korea participated in the opening ceremony of the Center and sent congratulations
and encouragement to the staff of the Center.
The Center will be operated together by the government and a private
organization. It is funded from the Lottery Fund. The Korea Labor Welfare Corporation is in charge of management and supervision
of the Center and execution of its budget. But operation of the Center and implementation of its projects are entrusted to
, a corporation aggregate.
The Center is free for all migrant workers with legal status of stay and work. The Center
plans to provide illegally staying migrant workers with counseling for departure as well.
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