Seoul to use extra budget to create jobs

SEOUL, March 19 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government will spend an additional 4.9 trillion won (US$3.54 billion) this year to create 550,000 new jobs, the presidential office said Thursday, amid reports that a record one million are now unemployed in the nation.

The decision was reached at a special presidential council meeting on the
economic crisis.
The money needed for the plan will come from a supplementary budget that the
government is expected to request soon. Financial officials have said the
government will likely ask for nearly 30 trillion won, about 10 percent of the
government's 2009 budget of some 284.5 trillion won, to help fight the ongoing
economic downturn.
The proposed budget allocation breaks down to 2.9 trillion won in direct job
creation, 500 billion won in "job sharing" measures, 158 billion won in job
training and 1.6 trillion won in measures to promote new employment and support
for the low income bracket.
The announcement came on the heels of a report released on Wednesday that the
country's jobless rate jumped to a four-year high of 3.9 percent in February as
companies scaled back recruitment in the face of deepening economic woes. The
February figure is the highest level since March 2005 when the jobless rate stood
at 4.1 percent.
The government said that it will offer 365.3 billion won in aid to companies
which choose to retain their current payrolls through pay cuts, unpaid leave and
training, instead of laying off employees.
It also said it plans to spend 99.2 billion won to cover 40 percent of salaries
for company employees who are placed on unpaid leave under the job-sharing
program.
The government will also offer temporary jobs for as many as 68,000 unemployed
college graduates. It plans to hire 25,000 of them as teaching assistants at
public schools, 7,000 as university teaching assistants and 4,000 as interns at
public corporations.
It will also increase the recipients of unemployment allowances to 375,000 people
at an expense of 1.6 trillion won and inject 2 trillion won to provide temporary
community work for about 400,000 jobless people in the lowest income bracket.
"The measure, which focuses on job creation, expansion of job sharing and support
for the unemployed, is expected to create 550,000 new jobs," the government said.
Related government offices will set up oversight bodies to fine-tune and finalize
the plan, prevent wasteful spending of state funds and secure efficiency in
carrying out the scheme, the government said.