Unemployment is getting so bad that it cannot be ignored any longer. According to the National Statistical Office (NSO), the "semi-unemployed" numbered 3.485 million last year, 6.1 percent higher than the year before. The number of workers working less than 35 hours a week has risen to more than 2.5 million, and the percentage of unemployed who are full-time job seekers has risen sharply to 11.1 percent. All that could become a major factor in social unrest.
The NSO's documentation says that the government has gotten actively involved in making new jobs, but it proves that the effort is not only not producing any real results, most of the new jobs are not regular forms of employment. The problem does not stop at simple job insecurity. As researchers at a jaebeol's research center have noted, growth potential suffers when the labor force is not used to the fullest extent. Unemployment should therefore not be approached with the shortsighted thinking that wants to treat it with solutions such as "public works." As the Hankyoreh has always asserted, jobs in society need to be increased through radical new policy. With just the right timing Cheong Wa Dae's social policy office has issued a report to President Roh Moo Hyun that says employment in Korea's social services is far lacking compared to advanced nations. Korea has 2 to 4 million less the jobs that advanced nations enjoyed when they had the same per capita purchasing power that Korea does now, and that really says something. The issue is all the more acute given the poor state of the country's social security. Korea urgently needs better care for the elderly and handicapped, attention for the homeless, counseling for foreign labor, and other work that would widely increase the quality of life.
Increasing "social jobs" by 2 to 4 million just to fill the numbers might be too much. But the government's political will in making it happen will be important, especially when you consider the fact that the "quasi-unemployed" number more than 3.48 million. Social service jobs account for 12.6 percent of Korea's employed persons, which is outrageously low compared to Sweden (32.5%) and the United States (27.5%). The work of creating "social jobs" must not end with this NSO report. There must be action.
The Hankyoreh, 22 February 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Create Jobs, Don't Talk About Them |
