"Enforcement Decree of Serious Accident Punishment Act to be Revised Within the Year... Training 180,000 Digital and Semiconductor Talents"

Ministry of Employment Reports to President... Full-Scale Labor Reform Promotion
Amendment of Serious Accident Punishment Act Enforcement Decree Within the Year... "Eliminating Ambiguity"
Strict Response to Illegal Union Activities... Working Hours and Wage Restructuring
Minister Lee Jeong-sik: "We Will Create a Rational Restructuring Plan"

Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jeong-sik Photo by Yonhap News

The Ministry of Employment and Labor is forming the 'Future Labor Market Research Group' next week to set the direction for reforming working hours and wage systems, and will actively push forward labor reforms. Additionally, to supplement the Serious Accident Punishment Act, which has faced strong opposition from the business community, the ministry plans to establish a 'Serious Accident Reduction Roadmap' by October and pursue amendments to the enforcement decree by the end of the year.

Minister Lee Jung-sik of the Ministry of Employment and Labor reported this plan to President Yoon Seok-yeol on the afternoon of the 15th. In this report, the ministry selected labor market reform, reduction of serious industrial accidents, and strengthening proactive labor market policies as core policy tasks.

First, the ministry will organize and begin operating the 'Future Labor Market Research Group' composed of experts in related fields by next week. Regarding working hours, the basic stance is to gradually reduce them while expanding the autonomous choice of labor and management, and simultaneously implementing health protection measures for workers to devise reasonable alternatives.

The wage system is an area of labor-management autonomy, but the ministry will support the establishment of a fair compensation system to create youth jobs and provide a foundation for continued employment of the elderly. The ministry plans to swiftly proceed with legislative and other follow-up measures based on the recommendations prepared by the research group. Additional reform tasks will be discussed socially by forming a special committee within the Economic, Social and Labor Council (ESLC) under the president.

Minister Lee reported to President Yoon that labor-management conflicts occurring in the field will be resolved autonomously through dialogue and compromise, but illegal acts such as unlawful occupation, forced hiring, and unfair labor practices will be strictly dealt with regardless of labor or management according to law and principles.

(Data provided by the Ministry of Employment and Labor)

The report also included content regarding the Serious Accident Punishment Act. The ministry aims to become a safety-advanced country at the level of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) within five years by shifting the paradigm of serious accident reduction from 'regulation' to 'autonomy and prevention.' To this end, it plans to establish a 'Serious Accident Reduction Roadmap' by October, which includes building an autonomous prevention system, joint identification of risk factors by labor and management, expanding tailored and smart technology support, and establishing prevention systems for occupational diseases and cancers.

To build corporate safety and health systems, the ministry will activate supervision focused on vulnerable sites after autonomous inspections of high-risk workplaces, and the results of inspections will be directly notified to CEOs to induce substantial improvements.

Regarding the Serious Accident Punishment Act, which faces strong opposition from companies, the ministry will push for amendments to the enforcement decree by the end of this year to promptly resolve uncertainties in the field. The ministry plans to revise ambiguous provisions in the law such as 'faithfully' and specify related safety and health laws to reduce corporate uncertainties. Issues related to punishment regulations and other field difficulties will be addressed by sufficiently listening to the opinions of the business community and preparing improvement measures centered on the currently operating task force (TF).

Furthermore, the ministry will enhance labor market vitality by strengthening proactive labor market policies for companies and individuals, moving away from the existing public short-term job and income support methods.

To this end, overlapping and low-performance direct job projects will be abolished or reduced, and job project efficiency will be continuously promoted through annual data-based evaluations.

Considering the situation of companies suffering from labor shortages, the ministry will rapidly train 180,000 talents in new industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and digital fields by 2024. In particular, in the semiconductor sector, training with high field applicability will be expanded using production equipment from companies like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Additionally, the ministry will expedite the introduction of foreign workers (E-9) waiting to enter the country and expand the allocation of new workers to resolve recruitment difficulties. The monthly number of entrants was only 2,671 in January but is targeted to reach 10,000 this month.

The ministry will also expand employment insurance coverage for platform workers and prepare improvement measures for repeated claims, such as gradually reducing unemployment benefits for repeat claimants.

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