Despite Trillions Spent Annually, No Progress... 'Pouring Water into a Bottomless Jar' in Training Female STEM Talent

In Industrial Sites, Calls for a 'Shift in Thinking' Grow Louder

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Despite pouring trillions of won annually, the government has failed to increase the number of female industrial technology personnel, drawing criticism as "pouring water into a bottomless jar." The industry is calling for a change in approach.

According to the Korea Federation of Women’s Science and Technology Associations (KOFWST) on the 2nd, the 2020 Industrial Technology Workforce Supply and Demand Survey results show that although the government is investing huge budgets every year to nurture female industrial technology personnel, the number and proportion of female workers remain stagnant.

Just tallying the government’s major direct support project budgets amounts to nearly 2 trillion won annually. Representative examples include the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s maternity protection and childcare support project (1,591.537 billion won) and employment stabilization incentives (121.571 billion won). The Ministry of Employment and Labor also directly spends on workplace daycare support (34.711 billion won), skilled workforce training and equipment expansion (3.358 billion won), and employment equality environment improvement support (2.227 billion won) to nurture female personnel.

Additionally, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s project to expand participation of female R&D personnel in industrial sites (2.05 billion won), the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ female enterprise development project (7.319 billion won), the Ministry of Science and ICT’s female science and technology personnel nurturing and support project (15.97 billion won), the establishment and operation of the Women in Science and Technology Support Center (5.361 billion won), and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family’s female economic activity promotion support project (70.17 billion won) and future female talent nurturing project (527 million won) are also direct support projects for nurturing female personnel.

However, the actual effect is unclear. Over the past five years, the proportion of women among all industrial technology personnel engaged in manufacturing and manufacturing services has remained around 13%. It slightly decreased from 13.3% in 2016 to 13.0% in 2017, then marginally increased to 13.5% in 2018, 13.6% in 2019, and 13.9% in 2020. Last year, out of a total of 1,672,937 personnel, women accounted for 231,818 (13.9%) and men 1,441,119 (86.1%).

Accordingly, at a related forum held by KOFWST on the 30th of last month, voices demanding a change in government policy approach were strong. Kim Hee, Executive Director at POSCO, pointed out, "Field companies often seek bachelor’s degree holders or, in the case of small and medium enterprises, even elementary school graduates rather than master’s or doctoral degree holders," adding, "There seems to be no support policy for the 60% of personnel who are bachelor’s degree holders among the government’s policies."

Cho Hye-jung, Executive Director at Samsung Electronics, said, "In hiring at large companies, the proportion of experienced hires with practical work experience is increasing significantly, and due to rapid digitalization, convergence, and innovation breaking down boundaries between fields, companies are shifting from hiring new personnel to frequently recruiting those with practical experience in related companies, whether large or small," adding, "The MZ generation tends to move quickly when they feel it’s not right rather than staying at one company." She emphasized the need to flexibly revise the government’s uniform female workforce nurturing policies to align with the changed hiring and employment culture.

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