5th Ministerial Meeting on Boosting the Economy
2nd Ministerial Meeting on the Economy of 2019
5th Meeting Discusses Plans to Promote a Sharing Economy
Deputy Prime Minister, Hong Nam-ki, presided on January 9 over the 5th Ministerial Meeting on Boosting the Economy, that is, the 2nd Ministerial Meeting on the Economy of this year. The meeting discussed plans to promote a sharing economy, as well as looked at the proceedings of the seven large-scale projects of which the plans were announced over the last quarter of 2018. Deputy Prime Minister Hong also touched on the job market situation at the beginning of the meeting.
The following is a summary of DPM Hong’s keynote address.
Current job market situation
The economy added 34,000 jobs in December, making the 2018 annual job growth 97,000. Part of this slowdown is due to the restructuring in major industries, such as cars and vessels, weakening small merchants, and policy shortfalls. However, the good news is that jobs continued to grow in 2018 at the same level as 2017 and regular jobs kept increasing. Furthermore, young adult employment shifted to an increase in the fourth quarter of 2018. The government will work to help reach this year’s target of 150,000 new jobs, focusing on the following in the first half.
- Work to boost the economy, thereby jobs increasing in the private sector
- Work to boost domestic consumption, such as by promoting the service sector which can create more jobs
- Strengthen employment support, including the one to promote SME jobs and others to help retain employment in areas affected by industrial restructuring, as well as the support for young job seekers, women and elderly employees
Proceedings of the seven large-scale projects
The meeting will regularly look at the proceedings of large-scale projects planned by the private sector, as well as by the public sector, beginning today with the seven projects, three private sector projects announced in October last year and four public projects announced in December, worth over 8.3 trillion won altogether.
- Two of them, construction projects worth 3.7 trillion won and 1.5 trillion won, respectively, bound to start in the first half of this year: the construction of a global business center in downtown, Seoul, worth 3.7 trillion won, and the construction of industrial complexes near the country’s southern port city of Pohang, worth 1.5 trillion won
- Two others, construction projects worth 350 billion won and 450 billion won, respectively, ready for the plans to be further developed in detail: the urban development project in the southern port city of Yeosu, and the construction project to add more manufacturing facilities to the Yeosu industrial complexes, which requires land reclamation
- The other three, the development of a semiconductor cluster, worth 1.6 trillion won, the construction of a K-pop theater in Seoul, worth 500 billion won, and the construction of roads for new vehicle testing in the coastal city of Seosan, worth 200 billion won, still in the process of finalizing plans
Sharing economy
We need to continue to promote the sharing economy, of which the market has been expanding rapidly, creating new opportunities and jobs. The plan to promote the sharing economy, which will be announced today, contains ways to promote a sharing economy in the financial sector, as well as the sharing of knowledge, spaces, accommodations and transportation. The plan also includes regulations to support the sharing economy.
- Allow guest houses to provide services to locals for up to 180 days annually
- Provide tax breaks, such as a tax break for accommodation businesses as a compensation
- Give income tax reductions for renting hydrogen fuel cell cars, as well as electric cars
- Lower taxes on interest earned from P2P lending
- Promote further developing the sharing economy: Increase tax support for investment in R&Ds and human resources development
Please refer to the attached pdf
