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PEOPLE AND VALUES.

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CONTENTS

6

Jung-Sik Lee

Minister of Employment and Labor

The Ministry of Employment and Labor's systematic and customized employment safety net infrastructure to build a labor market of mutual growth and solidarity

12

Deok-Ho Kim

Standing Member of the Committee

on Economic, Social and Labor Affairs

Laying the foundation for labor reforms that labor and management can agree on through sufficient social dialogue

16

Jun-Young Kim

CEO of KCMT

GFRP, a lighter, semi-permanent, eco-friendly rebar alternative, accelerates construction's path to carbon neutrality and a circular economy

22

Hyun-Chul Kim

President, Korea Testing

and Research Institute (KTR)

KTR, a trusted partner in Korea's industrial development, boldly challenges and innovates to shape the country's industrial future

28

Soo-Bok Lee

CEO of ECOEYE

Ekoi, an integrated carbon credit solution company that provides a platform for carbon credit market participants and builds a global carbon neutral ECOEYE

34

Sung-Beom Pyun

Dean, Korea University School of Medicine

The best medical schools with the best research pioneering the future of medicine medical school with the best research capabilities

38

Dr. Seung-Hyun Lee

Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery,

Severance Hospital

'Even if it's just a minute', doctors' efforts to shorten surgical time can help patients return to normal life sooner

42

Tae-Yu Kim

President, Korean Cancer Society

Strengthening global capabilities, the Korean Cancer Society grows with a new 100-year history

44

Byung-Gun Kim

President of the Korean Society of Balance Disorders

Korea's only academic organization specializing in dizziness and balance disorders to protect the lives of healthy people by striving for technological advancement and strengthening academic projects

MONTHLY PEOPLE | COVER STORY

Jung-Sik Lee Minister of Employment and Labor

The Ministry of Employment and Labor's systematic and customized employment safety net infrastructure to build a labor market of mutual growth and solidarity

In 2023, when global economic uncertainty increased, the Korean labor market remained strong. Employment growth was particularly strong among women and the elderly. According to the Employment and Labor Brief released by the Korea Labor Institute, the number of employed people increased by 336,000 from January to October compared to the same period in 2022. As of October, the unemployment rate was 2.1% and the employment rate was 63.3%. This year, the number of employed people is expected to increase by 257 thousand year-on-year, with an annualized employment rate of 62.9% and an annualized unemployment rate of 2.7%. Currently, South Korea is experiencing a shift in the labor force by industry due to demographic changes. This is expected to lead to a slowdown in employment growth and a long-term decline in the labor force, causing significant changes in the size of employment in the future. This is a time when the need to improve the productivity of the available workforce and prepare labor input measures is constantly being raised. The Ministry of Employment and Labor is also preparing advanced policies aimed at responding to the rapidly changing labor market. In particular, it is focusing on establishing an employment forecasting system, which is the coordinate of job policy. This is to ensure that the labor market situation is properly understood and responded to proactively. In addition, based on the data and forecasts of the labor market, the government plans to upgrade the 'labor supply and demand forecast for new technologies' and 'mid- to long-term labor supply and demand forecast' to be used to establish policies such as the scale of foreign labor introduction considering future demographic factors and the dynamic outlook for each industry. Now that economic growth is facing a red light due to a decline in labor supply due to low birthrate and population decline, we look at the policies and infrastructure of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, which are playing a crucial role in proactively responding to structural changes in the labor market.

So Yeon Park psy@monthlypeople.com

Building a labor market of coexistence and solidarity through targeted and sector-specific employment policies

T

he 2024 budget of the Ministry of Employment and Labor has been finalized at KRW 33.6825 trillion. This is the result of reviewing all projects at the source to cut off factors that cause financial waste, especially those that were customarily supported without sufficient verification of necessity and appropriateness, and those that were excessive and ineffective. Savings will be used to support labor reforms and focus on future growth and sustainable job creation, including investing in youth and training key workers. We will focus on the three tasks of building a labor market of shared prosperity and solidarity, such as creating fair and safe workplaces, supporting sustainable job creation centered on private sector-led jobs, and promoting labor market participation in response to the declining birthrate and aging population, and prepare related policies.

In particular, the budget for youth support has been increased. The youth work experience support project, which helps young people enter the labor market, has increased from 55.3 billion won last year to 171.8 billion won this year. The program aims to help young people develop job skills before entering the labor market. The budget for the Youth Challenge Support Project, which helps young people who are currently struggling to find a job (NEET, Not in Education, Employment or Training) to smoothly enter the labor market, was increased from 40.8 billion won last year to 70.9 billion won this year. There are an estimated 410,000 youth NEETs nationwide.

Support will also be strengthened to help workplaces with five or more employees and fewer than 50 employees respond to the Severe Disaster Punishment Act from January 27, 2024. The government has previously announced that it will invest KRW 1.5 trillion to prevent serious accidents at workplaces with fewer than 50 employees, while making every effort to build a safety and health management system. In line with this policy, this year, the Ministry of Employment and Labor's budget for strengthening the safety capabilities of SMEs has increased by KRW 12.6 billion to provide consulting for workplaces with fewer than 50 employees through joint safety management experts. In addition, a new budget of KRW 1.8 billion will be allocated to support local governments to help foreign workers stay in Korea, and a total budget of KRW 35 billion will be allocated for specialized training courses for caregivers and child care, which are in increasing