Korea Federation of SMEs Holds Job Policy Meeting with the Democratic Party of Korea

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz) announced that on the 8th, it held a policy meeting on SME job policies by inviting the Job and Employment Task Force under the Emergency Economic Countermeasures Headquarters of the Democratic Party's COVID-19 National Crisis Overcoming Committee at the Kbiz headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul.

The meeting was organized to identify the on-site difficulties faced by SMEs due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and to seek policy alternatives to resolve job issues. Attendees from the Democratic Party included Jeong Taeho, head of the Job and Employment Task Force, as well as lawmakers Kim Kyungman, Heo Young, Kim Youngbae, Lee Dongju, and regional committee chairs Lee Jeonggeun and Jo Jaehee.

The SME sector emphasized at the meeting that the economic downturn in Europe and the United States caused by COVID-19 marks only the beginning of the crisis for manufacturing and export industries, and stressed the need to expand 'employment retention support' so that SMEs can overcome the current crisis together with their workers.

In particular, they demanded that the current daily employment retention support limit of 66,000 KRW be raised to 75,000 KRW due to limitations in retaining skilled core personnel, and that the 90% support, which is set to end at the end of this month, be extended until the end of this year considering that COVID-19 is not yet over.

Additionally, to prepare for the post-COVID era, they proposed a total of 12 policy tasks including ▲ freezing the minimum wage in 2021 ▲ prompt legislation of flexible working hours system ▲ paradigm shift in jobs and expansion of continuous employment support for the elderly ▲ rational improvement of foreign labor employment costs ▲ support for youth job creation in the root industry ▲ additional designation of special employment support sectors.

Kim Ki-moon, chairman of Kbiz, stated, “As the economic and employment shocks caused by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis become more apparent, the top priority of policies should be placed on maintaining and creating jobs through economic revitalization,” and added, “We need to expand employment retention support and shift the policy paradigm so that people prefer working rather than being protected as unemployed.”

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