Choi Sang-mok "Prompt Preparation of Measures to Expand Women's Economic Participation to Improve Social Mobility"

Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, announced that he will promptly prepare measures to expand women's participation in economic activities to improve social mobility.

On the 13th, Deputy Prime Minister Choi presided over the 'Expert Meeting on Social Mobility' at the Government Seoul Office to realize a dynamic economy and made this announcement.

He diagnosed that the recent weakening of social mobility is one of the key factors continuously slowing down the dynamism and potential growth rate of the Korean economy, and pointed out that improving social mobility is urgent to realize a dynamic economy.

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Academics and research institute officials attending the meeting shared this perception and suggested that, to enhance social mobility in terms of education and employment, efforts are needed to alleviate the education-employment mismatch, resolve educational disparities, improve the labor market environment, and create quality jobs.

In response, Deputy Prime Minister Choi stated that it is necessary to expand the economic participation of women and the elderly and improve youth employment to enhance social mobility, and as a first step, plans to promptly prepare and announce measures to expand women's participation in economic activities by improving conditions for work-family balance.

He also announced that through discussions in the 'Social Mobility Task Force (TF),' they will seek practical alternatives that citizens can feel, such as strengthening support for lifelong education and vocational training to expand opportunities for moving to quality jobs.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on the 4th of last month in the Economic Policy Direction that it plans to prepare a 'Roadmap for Realizing a Dynamic Economy' within the first half of this year, and has been gathering opinions from various sectors by holding a 'Research Institute Forum for Realizing a Dynamic Economy' chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister at the Korea Development Institute (KDI).

This meeting was also held to collect expert opinions on the awareness of the current status of social mobility and the direction of response during the process of preparing improvement measures. The Ministry of Economy and Finance plans to prepare measures to enhance social mobility within the first half of the year through the Social Mobility TF.

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