President urges efforts to ensure cut in working hours will lead to new jobs
SEOUL, (MILLAT ONLINE):President Moon Jae-in on Monday called for government efforts to make sure the recent cut in the maximum working hours will lead to new jobs, and improve the living and working conditions of all laborers.
The unicameral parliament approved a revision to the Labor Standards Act last week, reducing the maximum statutory workings hours to 52 hours a week from the current 68 hours.
“The reduction in working hours is a valuable opportunity to expand the number of jobs,” the president said during a weekly meeting with senior aides at his office Cheong Wa Dae.
“I ask the government to come up with active support measures so the cut in working hours will lead to job sharing and employment of the youth,” he added, according to pool reports.
The president seeks to create more than 810,000 new jobs in the public sector alone before his five-year term ends in 2022.
The country’s youth unemployment rate stood at 8.7 percent as of end January, far higher than the overall average of 3.7 percent.
Moon has also stressed the need to reduce the country’s working hours as part of efforts to improve the overall working and living conditions of workers.
Each South Korean worked 2,069 hours on average in 2016, the highest among all member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the president noted earlier.
Moon seeks to cut the average working hours to 1,800 per year before the end of 2022. “It is also an important opportunity to ensure the balance between work and life, co-existence of work and family,” Moon told the weekly meeting.
“Workers being able to have dinner with their families and both parents being able to raise their children are also important for the resolution of the serious issue of the low birthrate,” he added.