FTA to increase jobless: Korea Labor Institute
Korea Times | 5 April 2007
FTA to Increase Jobless: Korea Labor Institute
By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter
The Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will increase the number of irregular workers and jobless, according to experts and unionists.
They say that although there will be no radical restructuring like the one that took place after the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, there will be a large-scale movement of manpower in the labor market following the conclusion of the FTA.
While employees are expected to increase in industries such as automobiles, textiles and services following the pact, other industries, including movies, broadcasting, pharmaceuticals, steel and chemicals will face manpower reductions, according to the Korea Labor Institute.
Huh Jae-joon, a researcher of the institute, said that industries which lack competitive power will be forced to change their type of industry or see an increasing number of their workers leaving for other industries within two to three years.
Although we have to wait for the National Assembly's ratification of the FTA, it will be inevitable for workers in vulnerable industries to lose their jobs,'' said Huh.
He said that it will take longer for the FTA to contribute to increasing employment.At the moment, it ’s difficult to tell the specific number of people who will lose jobs due to the FTA. According to some statistics, 240,000 people will lose jobs over 10 years at maximum,’’ said another labor expert claiming anonymity.
Vice Labor Minister Kim Sung-joong said that it is certain that overall employment will increase in the long term, but it is inevitable that there will be people who will lose jobs or become irregular workers during changes in the manpower structure
We are currently working on assessing the actual effect of the FTA on job creation and employment along with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy. We are going to release it in May,'' said Kim.
Park Jong-kil, a ministry official in charge of employment policy said that the government will help workers in vulnerable industries such as the manufacturing or agricultural sectors to change their jobs to deal with the negative effects of the FTA. By forming a special team, it will also provide vocational training programs for laid-off workers so that they can find other jobs.
The unionists says that although there will be increased employment in the service sector, it is highly likely that the increased number of jobs will be filled with non-regular workers instead of regular workers.To compete with advanced U.S. companies, industry will reduce jobs while trying to increase competitiveness, which will lead to a large number of lay-offs and acceleration of economic polarization in society. We will do our best to block the National Assembly from ratifying the agreement,’’ said Woo Moon-suk, a spokesman for the Korea Confederation of Trade Unions.
