(EDITORIAL from Korea Times on Nov. 16)

Losing hope
More people in their 40s, 50s affected by job crisis

The latest employment data released Wednesday by Statistics Korea showed things are only getting more hopeless despite the Moon Jae-in administration's all-out efforts to increase the number of jobs.

The unemployment rate hit 3.5 percent in October, the highest for that month in 13 years. The number of new jobs stood at only 64,000, staying below 100,000 for the fourth consecutive month. The number of unemployed people hit 973,000, the highest since 1999, and almost 80,000 more than the same month last year.

It should be noted that the latest job data showed a noticeable increase in unemployment among people in their 40s and 50s, the core age group of the nation's workforce. There was a 35,000 increase in the unemployed among people in their 40s and 30,000 in their 50s. Most people in this age group are struggling with the heavy burden of raising a family and looking after themselves as well as elderly parents. So it is particularly worrisome that people in this group are seriously affected by the grave job crisis.

It should also be noted that sectors that were heavily affected by the Moon administration's speedy raise in the minimum wage saw big job losses, such as lodgings, restaurants, wholesale and retail.

The worsening job situation is mainly due to the economic downturn and the difficulties faced by Korea's main industries, including cars, steel and shipbuilding. Coupled with this, the fallacies of President Moon's income-led growth policy are taking their toll on many workers and the self-employed.

The only sector that saw a job increase was the public sector on the back of the government's heavy spending in areas related to public health and social services. Last month, there was an increase of more than 159,000 jobs in these areas. But most of these are temporary positions.

Many Koreans feel the unemployment situation is even worse than during the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s that led to massive layoffs. But President Moon's new finance team does not seem to grasp the seriousness of the situation. Finance Minister nominee Hong Nam-ki even said during a recent press conference he could not agree that the current situation amounts to a crisis.

Hong said he will think hard about what the government can do and include this in the economic policy direction for next year. But as long as the Moon administration fixates on the failing income-led growth policy and refuses to focus more on fixing fundamental problems that hamper economic growth, the job outlook for next year will not get any better.
(END)