Minister Lee Jeong-sik: "Labor Market, a Period of Great Transformation... Advancing the 'New Technology Workforce Supply and Demand Forecast'"

On the 6th, Lee Jeong-sik, Minister of Employment and Labor, stated, "We will further advance the current 'New Technology Workforce Supply and Demand Outlook' to actively utilize it in the workforce development policies of related ministries in the high-tech industry sector, including reflecting it in the scale and content of government training projects."

On the same day, Minister Lee held a "Meeting for the Advancement of Employment Outlook" at the Seoul Employment and Labor Office and said, "Our labor market is at a turning point due to changes in industry and population structure."

This meeting was held to enhance the employment outlook system by sharing employment outlook techniques among major national research institutions and strengthening the collaboration system. At the meeting, the research institutions analyzed the reasons behind the employment increase in the first half of this year (372,000 people), which significantly exceeded the forecast, and exchanged opinions on the matter.

Kang Shin-hyeok of the Korea Labor Institute said, "Net exports and manufacturing production have a low correlation with employment, and there is a time lag between the economy and employment, so despite the economic slowdown, the employment situation is more robust than expected." Ji-yeon Kim, Head of Trends at the Korea Development Institute (KDI), analyzed, "This is because the participation of women and the elderly in economic activities exceeded previous trends due to rapid changes in population structure and increased demand for female- and elderly-friendly jobs such as in the healthcare sector."

The research institutions attending the meeting agreed to continuously share their forecasting models and analytical techniques and to strengthen the collaboration system for advancing employment outlooks by regularly holding meetings with related agencies.

Minister Lee said, "Employment outlooks are like coordinates for job policies," adding, "If the employment outlook is further advanced based on today's discussions, we will be able to properly understand the labor market situation and respond proactively."

The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to advance the 'New Technology Workforce Supply and Demand Outlook,' which compares growth and replacement demand by technology based on industry-specific surveys with workforce development status in government, private sector, and universities, to be used in policy decisions and formulation regarding the scale and content of training projects for workforce development in high-tech industries. Additionally, by enhancing the current 'Mid- to Long-term Workforce Supply and Demand Outlook' to include additional workforce demand forecasts by industry and region and providing them promptly to relevant ministries, the ministry plans to actively respond to policy demands from various ministries concerning existing key industries such as manufacturing.

Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jeong-sik. (File photo)
[Image source=Yonhap News]

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