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The Korean government plans to funnel millions of dollars into small and medium-sized companies
to stimulate the sluggish labor market.
It wants to create more jobs by encouraging SMEs to open up more part-time positions.
Kim Min-ji has the details.
Korea's Ministry of Employment and Labor unveiled its plans Sunday to create 37-thousand new
jobs in small and medium-sized companies with fewer than 3-hundred employees.
The move comes after the ministry secured over 11-point-8 trillion won, or roughly 20
billion U.S. dollars, in budget for 2014, an increase of nearly 8-percent from this
year.
In a drive to create new jobs within SMEs with flexible working hours, the government
will fund the social insurance fee, which the business owners are required to pay, for
two years, while also increasing labor cost support per employee.
The ministry will set aside 9-point-3 million dollars from the budget for the social insurance
fee, and increase labor cost support to about 21-and-a-half million dollars, from the current
9-point-8 million.
The ministry added that companies that cut back on long working hours and create new
jobs will also be able to receive up to 185-thousand dollars in capital investment and support
in labor costs.
The Labor Ministry also plans to expand support to prevent women cutting their careers short.
Companies will receive increased financial support when employing substitute workers
to replace those on maternity leave, while some 650 million dollars will be set aside
for maternity leave and other childcare-related allowances.
Kim Min-ji, Arirang News.