Inflated job creation target of the government

The Culture, Sports, and Tourism Ministry aimed at 60,000 new jobs in the tourism sector in June when the government announced the “70-percent employment rate” target. It increased the number to 150,000 in the tourism promotion and expansion meeting chaired by President Park Geun-hye on July 17.

“60,000 are the jobs that can be directly created by the tourism sector, and 150,000 include indirect job creation,” a ministry source said, adding, “As 150,000 include our ‘will,’ the figure does not have a firm rationale.” The increase in the number was partially driven by the pressure that 60,000 are too small to mention in a meeting chaired by the president.

The Dong-A Ilbo counted the number of jobs that ministries promised to create since the launch of the Park Geun-hye administration and it added up to 2.55 million.

It is about 170,000 more than the target number (2.38 million) of jobs needed to be created to achieve the 70-percent employment goal. The private sector and employment experts say, “Does the government plan to create all jobs?” and “Ministries’ job number inflation has gone overboard.”

The number of jobs is inflated by ministries because they cannot easily find a solution that can dramatically increase the number of jobs in response to President Park’s emphasis on employment. The 70 percent employment rate is the only pledge that President Park made with a number. Another reason behind the job target inflation is that it is difficult to confirm the figure.

“As the president stresses the employment rate, the government tries to create jobs but it is difficult to realize,” said Byun Yang-gyu, the head of the macro-policy research department at Korea Economic Research Institute. “It is the private sector that creates quality jobs, and the government should try to create an environment where companies can create jobs through deregulation.”