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Full employment?
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| The Editor |
Mon, Mar 17, 2008
The Korea Herald, ANN
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>Full employment does not mean zero unemployment, with a certain number of people always leaving their jobs to find something better. Economists regard an unemployment rate of 3 per cent or a little higher as full employment.
Given this definition, Korea should have no employment problem. The February unemployment rate was 3.5 per cent, according to a report by the National Statistical Office. Even better, the rate was lowered to 3 per cent, when seasonally adjusted.
But these official figures should not give any solace to President Lee Myung-bak's administration. His government appears to be quite impatient in its efforts to help create new jobs. Ignoring the official unemployment rate, Lee says he will strive to help provide 600,000 new jobs this year -- or three times the number created in the year ending last month.
If the definition of full employment fails to correspond with the common sense of laypeople, the same holds true regarding unemployment. A person is not always counted as unemployed just because he or she does not have a job. An unemployed person is one who is out of work and is actively seeking employment. In other words, the individual is not listed as unemployed if he or she gives up searching for a job.
The number of economically active people who have stopped looking for jobs is growing at an alarming rate, and this worries the Lee administration. The National Statistical Office said that the figure was 1,628,000 last month, the highest since January 2003. Add to this number the 607,000 who are training for jobs, and you understand why the administration is so eager to help create new jobs.
This government will have to rush to cut corporate taxes, and push for deregulation, so as to encourage corporations to increase their investment and thus put more people on their payrolls.
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