`Deregulation of service sector to create up to 500,000 jobs`

"Had I known (regulations were) that tight, I wouldn’t have thought about building a school in Korea in the first place.”

A mid-size business owner said he thought Korea needed a good school after seeing his friends send their children abroad for expensive study at an early age. He then took action by taking over a private school foundation in a province.

The entrepreneur`s strong determination to form a good school that could compete with prestigious counterparts in the U.S., however, is near collapse because of heavy layers of regulations and barriers. His attempt to hire a science teacher with an American master’s degree failed because the latter lacked a teaching license. The school owner also offered incentives to exemplary teachers but then faced a backlash from the teachers’ union. When he built a gymnasium, he needed a mountain of paperwork from the district office and education offices for approval.

A growing consensus says fostering service industries such as education, medical treatment, tourism and leisure is the only option that can generate quality jobs for Korea`s younger generation, as automation has accelerated in manufacturing. The many obstacles posed by special interest and civic groups, however, are interrupting the development of the service sector. Even the transition committee of President-elect Park Geun-hye, which has pledged to create more jobs, has had little discussion about it.

Economic experts say deregulation of the service sector could create up to 500,000 quality jobs over the next decade.

Korea Health Industry Development Institute says attracting a million foreigners could create 50,000 jobs in the medical and tourism industries by 2020. The Korea Tourism Organization`s estimate is up to 210,000 jobs.

Park Byeong-won, head of the Korea Federation of Banks and concurrent president of the Korea Association of Service Industries, said, “The new administration should make as its top priority job creation based on deregulation in the service sector.”