President Moon: "Urgent Measures Needed for Employment... Government Will Focus Policy Capabilities"

Next Week's 5th Emergency Economic Meeting to Be Held... Agenda: Employment

President Moon Jae-in is speaking at the Chief Secretary and Senior Secretary meeting held at the Blue House on the afternoon of the 13th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sunhee] President Moon Jae-in expressed concern over the economic repercussions of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis on the 13th, stating, "The biggest worry is the employment issue," and emphasized, "We must establish extraordinary measures without delay."

On the afternoon of the same day, President Moon held a Senior Secretary and Presidential Secretary meeting (SuBo meeting) at the Blue House, saying, "In this economic crisis phase, the government will focus its policy capabilities on preserving jobs." This was the first time in about a month since last month's 9th that President Moon presided over the SuBo meeting.

President Moon expressed a sense of crisis, saying, "Countries where mass unemployment has already occurred due to the COVID-19 situation are emerging," and "In our country as well, the increase in employment insurance subscribers has significantly slowed, and the number of unemployment benefit applicants has started to rise sharply. This may be just the beginning of the pain."

He stressed, "The beginning and end of economic recovery is jobs," adding, "If jobs collapse, the lives of the people collapse, and the resulting social costs are immeasurable." He further emphasized, "Money spent on maintaining employment is not wasted," and "Considering the welfare costs that would be incurred if jobs are lost, it is rather a cost reduction and a productive investment preparing for the future."

He also directly announced that employment issues would be the main agenda at the upcoming '5th Emergency Economic Meeting' scheduled for next week. President Moon said, "The most important point is to ensure that companies maintain employment even if it is difficult," and "We must not repeat the experience of losing many jobs during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) foreign exchange crisis."

President Moon urged, "Companies, labor, and the government must work together to find a way to save both companies and jobs," and "Starting with the government, please review the maximum possible support measures for companies maintaining employment and devise more bold and proactive measures."

He also emphasized, "Please devote great effort to preparing support measures for those in blind spots such as self-employed individuals, platform workers, and special employment workers who are not covered by employment insurance," and "Measures are also needed for those who have lost or will lose their jobs." To this end, emphasizing the 'role of the public sector,' he requested, "Please prepare various measures such as advancing public projects or providing temporary emergency jobs."

President Moon reiterated, "If we can stabilize COVID-19 ahead of other countries, we can also advance the time to recover the economy," and "The government will approach this with an even more extraordinary resolve. While solidifying definite results in quarantine and quickly entering a stable phase, we will do our utmost to overcome difficulties in the economy as well."

At the SuBo meeting that day, unusually, external participants related to employment policy attended, including Lee Je-min, Vice Chairman of the National Economic Advisory Council; Moon Sung-hyun, Chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Council; Cho Dae-yeop, Chairman of the Policy Planning Committee; Hong Jang-pyo, Chairman of the Income-Led Growth Special Committee; Kim Yong-gi, Vice Chairman of the Job Committee; Bae Gyu-sik, President of the Korea Labor Institute; and Jeon Byung-yu, Professor at Hanshin University.

Meanwhile, regarding the 21st National Assembly election just two days away, President Moon said, "The election we are holding now is also a major concern of the international community," and "If we can maintain the quarantine achievements well while conducting a nationwide intense election, we will be able to give hope to the international community that 'we can return to a normal social system and everyday society.'" He added, "In that regard, I cannot help but express my respect once again to the collective intelligence of the people who dispersed the quarantine burden caused by the election by recording the highest early voting rate in history," and said, "The power to lead victory in the war against COVID-19 lies solely with the people."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.