Bang Gi-seon Vice Minister "Additional Measures Planned for Job Vacancies Amid Labor Shortage in Industrial Sites"

4th Job Task Force (TF) Meeting

Bang Gi-seon, First Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, is delivering opening remarks at the '4th Job Task Force Meeting' held on the 12th at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Ministry of Strategy and Finance

The government has begun discussions on a plan to address the 'vacant job resolution measures' to solve the labor shortage in industrial sites.

On the 12th, Bang Gi-seon, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, held the '4th Job Task Force (TF) Meeting' at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu and stated, "Major industrial sites such as shipbuilding, foundational industries, and health and welfare sectors are still struggling to find enough workers." The number of vacant jobs in Korea has been increasing, with 163,000 in 2021, 214,000 in 2022, and 210,000 as of February 2023.

Vice Minister Bang explained, "In today's meeting, we selected four additional industries that are experiencing labor shortages on-site: domestic construction, shipping, fisheries, and resource circulation industries. We will discuss detailed implementation plans to induce labor inflow and training, improve working conditions, and strengthen matching support."

During the meeting, the government also reviewed the implementation status and progress of the vacant job resolution measures announced last month. Through the 'Rapid Employment Support TF' established for industries facing severe recruitment difficulties, support for hiring 13,000 people was provided by last month. The operation centers for the Job Seeker Leap Guarantee Package and the Company Leap Guarantee Package have expanded from 6 to 24 and from 9 to 35 centers, respectively.

Regarding direct job projects, early execution led to the hiring of 928,000 people out of the annual plan of 1,044,000 within the first quarter. This exceeded the initially planned 924,000 hires. The government aims to complete 994,000 direct job hires by the end of the first half of the year.

Vice Minister Bang stated, "We will thoroughly monitor the implementation to ensure that the discussed measures operate smoothly on-site," and added, "We plan to announce additional vacant job resolution measures."

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