Kim Ki-moon "Establishment of Root Industry Educational Institutions"... Public-Private Cooperation Committee Meeting Held

Front view of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business Associations

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daeseop] The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz) announced on the 23rd that it held the first Root Industry Committee meeting of 2020.

The committee meeting was held at the federation's headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. It was arranged as a follow-up measure after last month's signing of a cooperation agreement between Kbiz, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology.

About 20 participants, including Kbiz Chairman Kim Gi-moon, representatives of small and medium enterprises, and officials from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, discussed collaborative projects and sought solutions to the chronic manpower shortage in the root industry.

The small and medium business sector emphasized the importance of passing down core root technologies of the materials, parts, and equipment industry directly from skilled workers who have long worked on-site to younger workers, and requested the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to establish a "Root Industry Specialized Workforce Training Institute." The ministry plans to actively secure a budget as soon as related research is completed to revitalize the root industry and simultaneously recruit young talent.

The small and medium business sector also proposed to officials from the Ministry of Employment and Labor attending the meeting to improve the "Elderly Continued Employment Incentive" system. They requested expanding the support target to all small and medium enterprises that continue to employ workers aged 60 and over (with priority support for root industry SMEs if necessary) and adjusting the support amount to 500,000 KRW per month for three years.

Kbiz Chairman Kim Gi-moon said, "To resolve the long-standing manpower shortage in the root industry, policies supporting the retention of skilled elderly workers are expected to be important going forward," adding, "The government should expand employment retention support for small and medium enterprises and establish root industry training institutions to enable associations to directly transfer on-site know-how using skilled workers."

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