Finance minster calls on businesses to expand hiring, investment

SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun Tuesday
called on the business community to step up employment and investment as part of
efforts to reinvigorate the fast slipping economy.
"I urge the business community to play an important role in hiring and making
investments," Yoon said during a meeting in Seoul with the nation's major
business lobbying groups. "This gathering is also intended to provide a chance to
listen to requests for deregulation from you."
Yoon's meeting with business leaders comes as South Korea is in dire need of more
investment and job creation in order to get over the worst economic downturn in
more than a decade.
With bleak economic conditions, rising debts and tightening labor markets,
companies are scaling back their capital spending, while households tighten their
purse strings.
The minister earlier predicted that the nation's economy, Asia's fourth-largest,
will contract 2 percent, the first minus growth in 11 years, and that around
200,000 jobs will be lost from the previous year.
The meeting was the first of its kind since Yoon took office as new finance
minster this month. The gathering was attended by representatives of the nation's
five business lobby groups, including the Federation of Korean Industries and the
Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
During the meeting, the minister also called on private-sector companies to join
government efforts to create more jobs by adopting a "job sharing" scheme aimed
at encouraging companies to keep their workers by cutting salaries.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
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