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The government has unveiled a plan to increase the number of available jobs in the country...
and raise the employment rate from its current 64 percent to 70 percent by 2017.
The plan also aims to boost the productivity of the workforce.
Our Kim Ji-yeon... is here with us in the studio to tell us more.
Good evening, Ji-yeon. So what is the primary feature of this plan?
The plan, set out by the labor ministry, revolves around flexible or time-selective jobs.
These are different from conventional part-time jobs in terms of job security and benefits,
but perhaps even more importantly, in terms of the amount of pay.
Part-timers in Korea are temporary workers who only get an hourly wage.
Time-selective employees are hired on permanent contracts and they're entitled to the same
wages and benefits as their salaried counterparts -- but they work for only four to six hours
a day, five days a week, which is just about half the time of most full-time employees,
who put in nine hours a day. And more importantly, the rate of pay that
time-selective employees receive is higher than that of ordinary part-time workers, since
it's proportional to what they would make if they were on a full-time contract.
Title: 시간제 일자리 인뎁스-2
So how much pay are we talking about?
If the hourly wage of a full-time employee is the equivalent of 10 U.S. dollars, for
example, then the part-time employee under this system would also be entitled to 10 dollars
for every hour on the clock. But the aggregate wage the employee would
receive under this system is less than what full-time workers would get... because they
are working fewer total hours. Part-timer employees, on the other hand, are
usually paid something close to minimum wage. The Ministry of Employment and Labor says
the plan will bring flexibility to the labor force and the market,... and says the government
will increase the number of time-selective positions to 930-thousand by 2017.
Title: 시간제 일자리 인뎁스-3
Who is most likely to benefit from the government's plan?
Women and retirees seeking to re-enter the workforce will be the biggest beneficiaries.
Take a look.
Nam Seo-yeon is back at work after having left her job five years ago to focus on raising
her two children. She is a counselor at a call center and also
works at a local small business consulting business.
She says that she only has to work for four hours a day, which makes it easier for her
to balance work and family life than before.
"I'm making the most of the hours when my children are in day care."
She is one of the 2-million Korean women who have given up full-time jobs to take care
of family. According to a recent survey conducted by
the Ministry of Employment and Labor, eight out of 10 unemployed women said they liked
the idea of the time-selective hiring system. More than half of the respondents said the
reason the system works for them is because it gives them time to be at home and raise
their children. The country's large conglomerates and other
companies have started to adopt the plan. Samsung said it would add around 6-thousand
time-selective jobs this year alone.
"We are on board with the government's plan to increase the number of 'time-selective
working hour' jobs, which emphasize the balance between work and family."
But not everyone is on board with the government's plan.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the country's two umbrella labor unions,
said the jobs created under the plan are low in quality and the government needs to come
up with a better plan.
"We have no choice but to oppose to this plan because it will only increase the number of
low quality jobs."
Title: 시간제 일자리 인뎁스-4
What does the KCTU mean when it says the plan creates low quality jobs?
The civic group argues the government's plan will lower the number of full-time jobs by
substituting them with two to three selective working hour jobs.
So in the case of prospective workers in their twenties, who just graduated from college
but don't have any children, this may not be the best solution for them.
"I understand that this plan may be helpful for mothers trying to get back to work, but
for me, I'm afraid it would only lead to a deterioration in the quality of jobs."
"I doubt this plan would help me find a good job. The government needs to come up with
something that is more sustainable."
Title: 시간제 일자리 인뎁스-5
So what's are the experts saying about the plan?
I talked to Park Chun-sik from the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training,...
and he viewed this as a positive step toward compensating existing part-time workers that
are paid less than their full-time counterparts. But he says the government needs to do more
to solidify the plan for a longer period of time.
"In order to sustain the system, there may be a need for punitive measures to make sure
that the companies hiring for these selective working hour positions are actually paying
employees the amounts they promised."
Thank you for that Ji yeon. That was our Kim Ji-yeon, reporting live on
the government's plan to boost the employment rate in the country by offering flexible,
or what they're calling "time-selective," jobs.