Industry minister vows support for grim job market

All News 15:53 August 20, 2018

By Kim Eun-jung

SEJONG, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's industry minister said Monday that restructuring in the shipbuilding and auto industry has affected the nation's job market, vowing support for the manufacturing sector's innovation efforts and incentives to boost domestic demand.

Paik Un-gyu, minister of trade, industry and energy, expressed concerns over the dim employment numbers in the manufacturing sector, days after Asia's fourth-largest economy logged the smallest number of jobs created in more than eight years in July.

"As the minister in charge of the real economy, I feel grave responsibility (over the grim job market)," Paik said in a meeting with reporters.

Paik Un-gyu, minister of trade, industry and energy, speaks during a meeting with entrepreneurs in Seongnam, south of Seoul, on Aug. 17, 2018, in this photo provided by the ministry. (Yonhap)

Paik pledged to expand support for the shipbuilding and auto industries to help their restructuring efforts and foster new growth drivers in emerging sectors, such as eco-friendly ships and autonomous vehicles.

"We have world-class technology in making eco-friendly ships. If we focus on that sector, I think the shipbuiding industry could enjoy a second renaissance," Paik said. "The government plans to increase orders in the public sector and allocate more budget funds into research and development in shipbuilding and related areas."

In regards to the slumping auto sector, Paik said the government will push for extending individual consumption tax breaks on vehicles by six months to boost domestic consumption. Last month, the government decided to cut the individual automobile tax from 5 percent to 3.5 percent until the end of this year.

"We are mulling extending the favorable individual tax rate to the latter half of next year considering the tough situation facing the auto industry," Paik said.

The latest measure comes as the grim job market has been a hard blow to the Moon Jae-in administration, which has staked its reputation on creating employment opportunities that can generate balanced and sustainable growth.

The number of newly added jobs has stayed slightly above 100,000 per month over the past sixth months. The manufacturing sector shed 127,000 jobs last month, marking the fourth straight month of decline, according to Statistics Korea.

ejkim@yna.co.kr
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