Chairman Jin-Sik Choi of the Korea Federation of Medium-Sized Enterprises: "Labor, Management, and Government Must Strengthen Cooperation for Labor Policy Innovation"

Revealed During Meeting with Minister of Employment and Labor Young-Hoon Kim on the 29th

The medium-sized business sector has expressed the view that, in order to effectively respond to U.S. trade pressure and establish a foundation for sustainable mid- to long-term growth, it is essential to strengthen active cooperation among labor, management, and government to innovate labor policies that enhance corporate competitiveness.

On September 29, Jin-Sik Choi, Chairman of the Korea Federation of Medium-Sized Enterprises, told Young-Hoon Kim, Minister of Employment and Labor, who visited the Federation, “The demands from the United States are reaching a critical level. The unrivaled competitiveness of our industries is the best tool to support bold and confident negotiations. Therefore, we must expand the path to overcoming this crisis by promoting labor policy innovation that encourages aggressive investment in corporate innovation.”

Jin-Sik Choi, Chairman of the Korea Federation of Medium-Sized Enterprises (left), and Young-Hoon Kim, Minister of Employment and Labor, are posing for a commemorative photo. Korea Federation of Medium-Sized Enterprises

Chairman Choi stated, “We must correct the conceptual error of pitting labor against capital and further expand communication among labor, management, and government to foster a paradigm shift in perception that promotes mutually beneficial development between business and labor, as well as to create a legal, institutional, and regulatory environment that reinforces the principles of national wealth creation.” He added, “We should proactively ease the rigidity of labor regulations that have continued out of inertia and promote efficient workforce management and productivity improvement, so as to quickly resolve unnecessary comparative disadvantages with major countries, including OECD members.”

On this day, Chairman Choi submitted 10 proposals for improving employment and labor policies for medium-sized enterprises to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, including enhancing employment flexibility, rationalizing the wage system, and shifting to an autonomous and prevention-oriented labor safety policy. Minister Kim stated, “For Korea’s ‘real growth,’ the role of medium-sized enterprises, which are the backbone of the Korean economy and central to the growth ladder, is crucial. We will actively gather opinions from the medium-sized business sector and collaborate with all ministries to do our utmost to make Korea a country where it is easy to do business through innovation in employment and labor policies.”

In response, Chairman Choi said, “The medium-sized business sector will faithfully fulfill its role as the backbone of our economy by effectively responding not only to the immediate trade crisis, but also to the era’s seismic shifts such as low birth rates, aging population, and industrial upheavals triggered by AI. We will do so by making aggressive investments and creating more jobs, thereby establishing a stable foundation for ‘real growth.’”

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