Chairman Choi Jinsik of the Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises: "A Shift in Perception of Employment Flexibility Is Needed for Sustainable Growth"

The mid-sized business community has called for an urgent shift in perceptions regarding employment flexibility, presenting it as a solution to simultaneously build pathways for the circulation of skilled talent within industries-the foundation for sustainable growth-and the stabilization of the broader community.

Choi Jinsik, Chairman of the Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises, stated this at the 'Tripartite Luncheon Meeting' held on the 20th, saying, "While significantly expanding youth employment, we must also strengthen corporate competitiveness to effectively respond to the artificial intelligence transition (AX) through flexible labor mobility, and prevent the loss of valuable human capital. A comprehensive policy effort is urgently needed to resolve the unnecessary overheating of the self-employment sector."

At the meeting on the 20th, Kim Young-hoon, Minister of Employment and Labor (from left), Choi Jin-sik, Chairman of the Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises, Kim Dong-myung, Chairman of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, and Kim Ji-hyung, Chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Council, are taking a commemorative photo. Korea Federation of Mid-sized Enterprises

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This meeting was arranged after Kim Jihyung, Chairman of the Economic, Social and Labor Council, responded on the spot to Chairman Choi's proposal at the 'First Inauguration Ceremony of the New Government's Economic, Social and Labor Council' on the 19th of last month. The attendees included Chairman Choi, Chairman Kim, Kim Younghoon, Minister of Employment and Labor, and Kim Dongmyung, Chairman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.

Chairman Choi emphasized, "Previous efforts to enhance employment flexibility have not even been fully tested due to ideological conflicts, a lack of social trust, and insufficient institutional support. To firmly establish and embed employment flexibility as a virtuous cycle of mutual prosperity, we must further strengthen corporate responsibility for workforce redeployment and retraining, and the government must promptly and firmly advance regulatory rationalization to support companies' voluntary efforts. In doing so, labor, management, and government should restore trust as a 'one team' leading Korea's economic and industrial development."

Chairman Choi also stated, "To respond effectively to both the massive era-defining transition of AX and to changes in the demographic structure, the spread of protectionism, and supply chain instability, it is urgent to undertake comprehensive labor structure reforms based on trust and understanding among labor, management, and government. By greatly expanding opportunities for deep and open communication among the three parties, we must achieve a social consensus that enables a virtuous cycle in which corporate competitiveness enhances the value of labor, labor innovation drives corporate growth, and employment flexibility and stability are harmonized."

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