37th Meeting of Central Economic Response Headquarters
3rd Industrial Innovation Meeting
Government to Help Keep Upward Trend in Jobs
Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki presided over the 37th Meeting of the Central Economic Response Headquarters held on June 9, which is also the 3rd Industrial Innovation Meeting. DPM Hong discussed the May employment data, as well as recent GDP updates. Ways to deal with the current steel shortages and plans to further boost investment and consumption are main topics of discussion, along with the outcomes of the One Step Forward Model, developed to resolve conflicts between existing businesses and new ones when a new service is introduced to the market. Follow-ups to Deregulation on Demand are also touched on.
The following is a summary of Deputy Prime Minister Hong’s keynote address.
GDP updates and May employment data
According to the recent GDP updates, the economy grew 1.7 percent (preliminary) in the first quarter, up 0.1 percentage points compared with the advance estimate, contracted 0.9 percent (preliminary) in 2020, an upward revision from the advance estimate of a 1.0 percent shrinkage, and grew 2.2 percent (final) in 2019, up 0.2 percentage points compared with the preliminary 2.0 percent. These upward revisions prove the strength of the economy, and our next task will be to help keep this recovery momentum.
The economy added 619,000 jobs from a year ago in May, seasonally adjusted month-on-month data rising for four months in a row, during which a total of more than 828,000 jobs had been created. Thus, employment saw over 80 percent recovery from pre-pandemic February 2020. May data show employment growth in all age groups for the second consecutive month, more than 100,000 new jobs for young adults for three straight months, a surge in service jobs and steadily rising permanent employment.
As it usually takes some time for an economic rebound to bring about job creation, we will renew our efforts to help employment recover right in line with the economy, and ultimately to the pre-crisis level as soon as possible. We will focus on improving mismatches in the job market and developing future labor force, including SW professionals.
Tackle steel shortages
We will do the following to tackle steel shortages and ease the burden on the construction industry.
- Increase supply: Streamline customs procedures, and work to increase steel production by about 500,000 tons in the second quarter
- Ease the burden on the industry: Set out guidelines for suspending contracts and adjusting costs, and work on emergency support for businesses affected
- Crack down on cornering and hoarding practices, and help solve difficulties through the Industrial Supplies Provision Center
Boost investment and consumption
We will keep to the second-quarter plan.
- Successfully implement the public spending planned for the second quarter
- Promote private sector investment: Provide tax and financial support for high tech R&Ds and facilities investment, expand the reshoring tax reduction and work on involving digital infrastructure investment, such as big data investment, in the New Deal infrastructure investment tax incentive program
- Hold the 2nd Big Sales Festa from June 24 to July 11, where around 2.870 businesses, small and large, will participate online
One Step Forward Model
- Outcomes: Shared tourist accommodation services made available, such as shared village houses and urban accommodations
- Plans: Delivery services by drones and robots, and online sales of glasses
Deregulation on demand
A total of 241 regulatory difficulties have been resolved through the deregulation on demand program since February 2018. We decided 29 issues to work on last April, with our focus on easing the corporate burden and preparing for the future. The summary of the issues are as follows.
- Ease the corporate burden: Expand the COVID-19 vaccination priority to those taking a business trip longer than 12 months, give a one year grace period before the corporate adoption of the consolidated internal accounting control system, and study the use of foreign labor in some areas
- Prepare for the future: Revise the car repair shop registration act to allow EV only repair shops, and improve the recycling regulations to allow the reuse of food containers