President Moon Jae-in on Friday reaffirmed his pledge to create hundreds of thousands of quality jobs in the public sector, vowing to turn all non-regular job openings in the public sector to regular, full-time employment within his term.
"I will open an era of zero irregular jobs in the public sector within my term," Moon said in a meeting with workers and citizens at Incheon International Airport Corp., a key public enterprise.
(Yonhap)
The meeting marked the new president's first public event since coming into office Wednesday. Its title was roughly translated as "An Era of Zero Irregular Jobs in the Public Sector," apparently highlighting the president's emphasis on improved job security and creating new jobs.
Moon's first executive order, signed only hours after his inauguration Wednesday, was to set up a new presidential committee on jobs.
"When including indirect employment, about half (of all public employment) are irregular jobs, and they are creating an obstacle to the country's economic development," the president said.
"The new government hopes to improve the lives of its people with jobs, and to this end, it must first address the issue of irregular jobs and do it properly," he added.
The president said the government will soon launch a study to more accurately understand actual working conditions and the number of non-regular jobs in the public sector.
He then told the government to come up with a solution at least before the year's end.
Moon has promised to create 810,000 new quality jobs in the public sector during his five-year presidency.
He said the number will include those that currently exist as bad irregular jobs but will be turned into good, full-time openings.
Still, he also asked the workers to be patient, noting that trying to change too much too soon may result in undesirable outcomes.
"Turning irregular jobs into regular ones, reducing working hours, increasing job openings and turning bad jobs into good ones are not easy. They may be an additional burden to companies, and even to laborers, they may be difficult as they may lead to reduced income by reducing their overall working hours," he said.
"Both labor and management, as well as the government, must share such burdens while trying to find a reasonable solution." (Yonhap)