Debate Over Lee Jae-myung Emphasizing 'Public Jobs': "Effects Are Short-Lived" vs. "Still Necessary"

Lee Jae-myung "Opposition Criticizes Increasing Public Jobs... Foolish Idea," Points Out
Earlier, Moon Government Also Emphasized 'Public Sector Job Creation'
Last Year, Public Sector Labor Costs Surpassed Private Sector for First Time
Experts Say "Government Job Policy Is Closer to Welfare"

Lee Jae-myung, Democratic Party presidential candidate Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] Opinions among citizens are divided over Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, actively defending the Moon Jae-in administration's public sector job creation policy. While some point out that many public sector jobs promoted by the government so far have been temporary and have shown limitations, others believe they are necessary to alleviate unemployment.

On the 2nd, Lee attended the opening ceremony of the future party 'Blue Soda' for the 2030 generation and stated, "It is foolish to criticize increasing national public jobs as the opposition party does." He added, "The proportion of social jobs compared to our country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is only half."

Lee has consistently advocated for expanding public sector jobs. At a meeting of the Welfare State Practice Solidarity held at the Korea Social Workers Association in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on the 28th of last month, he explained, "The total amount of public social service jobs in our country is too small," and "That has caused unemployment. When we try to increase public social services, people keep saying it's just handouts or waste, which has led to a vicious cycle."

He added, "If we create and increase quality jobs through social public services at the level of advanced countries, we can alleviate youth unemployment," and "It is entirely possible to prevent young people from feeling extreme defeat through competition." This is interpreted as emphasizing the importance of expanding public sector jobs through national fiscal expenditure to solve job problems.

President Moon Jae-in [Photo by Yonhap News]

Previously, the Moon Jae-in administration also pledged to expand "810,000 public sector jobs" while proclaiming itself as a "job government" at its inception. The plan was to create 174,000 public servant jobs responsible for safety and security such as civil servants, police officers, and soldiers, and 340,000 jobs in social service public institutions like social welfare, as well as an additional 300,000 jobs through reduced working hours and direct employment conversion in the public sector.

Meanwhile, in response to the employment shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the government announced plans to create 1.56 million jobs centered on the public sector. The core of the plan was to provide 945,000 direct jobs based on existing budget projects, more than 550,000 non-face-to-face and digital direct jobs, and 67,000 jobs for public officials and public institutions.

The problem was that most of the jobs provided by the government were temporary, with an average duration of about six months. For example, the 945,000 jobs were temporary, lasting from three months up to a maximum of ten months, and the 100,000 non-face-to-face and digital jobs created with a 1 trillion won investment were also limited to a maximum of five months. The new public job measures, which were promoted at a scale of 550,000+α, also had a working period of around six months.

There were also criticisms that government spending increased significantly over the four years of the Moon administration due to these job policies, worsening the public sector's fiscal condition. According to an analysis by Song Eon-seok, a member of the People Power Party, of data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Statistics Korea, and the Korea Listed Companies Association, last year, total labor costs in the public sector reached 89.5 trillion won. During the same period, labor costs for the top 500 private companies were 85.9 trillion won, marking the first time public sector labor costs exceeded those of private companies.

Song said, "While the number of employees in the top 500 private companies decreased due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, slowing the rise in total labor costs compared to previous years, the public sector continued to increase its workforce, resulting in a similar rise in total labor costs as in previous years," and added, "The rapidly increasing number of public officials and public institution employees leads to a surge in labor costs, which is likely to ultimately be passed on to the public burden. More focus should be placed on improving the business environment for companies to expand quality private jobs."

Citizens receiving employment counseling. The photo is unrelated to specific expressions in the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Given this situation, opinions among citizens about expanding public sector jobs are also divided. A 20-year-old university student, A, said, "It is true that the national disaster situation due to COVID-19 has continued for two years, making it difficult to find employment," but added, "These are not sustainable jobs, and many public sector jobs involve simple tasks, making it difficult to recognize them as career experience. As public jobs increase, tax input will also increase, but the effect seems short-term."

On the other hand, Jeong (55), a self-employed person, saw the need for public jobs. Jeong said, "I have seen elderly people working in public jobs provided by the city, pulling weeds from early morning," and added, "There are many criticisms that they do easy work and just take government money, but if not the government, where else would elderly people be employed? Through public jobs, elderly people can earn money, work, and be guaranteed at least a minimum standard of living."

Experts diagnose that government policies to expand public sector jobs are closer to welfare policies than job policies. Kim Tae-gi, a professor of economics at Dankook University, explained, "Private sector jobs disappeared as the minimum wage was raised sharply. The 3 trillion won job stability fund was introduced to reduce employers' labor cost burdens due to the minimum wage increase, followed by short-term public jobs," and added, "This trend has continued since before COVID-19."

Professor Kim further stated, "While public sector jobs can lower the unemployment rate numerically, working only a few hours a day makes it difficult to sustain basic living," and pointed out, "Logically, a job means earning income through work to sustain one's life. However, many short-term public jobs currently provided by the government do not meet this standard."

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