President urges more job opportunities for youth

By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak urged businesses Thursday to
create new, quality jobs for the country's youth, saying he is more
"job-friendly" than anything else.

"There are some people who think I am on the side of businesses because I am
often called business-friendly, but that only means I am friendly to the
businesses so they can create more jobs," the president said in a town hall
meeting with eight young job seekers here.
"I guess I am more like 'job-friendly' in that sense," he added.
Thursday's meeting was held at a Human Resources Development Service Center in
Seoul, following a weekly meeting of a special presidential council on the global
economic crisis.
Lee noted the country's youth unemployment rate could be much higher than its
official figure of 8 percent, but said the government was doing all it can to
offer jobs to anyone willing to work.
"We are trying to help businesses and make them spend more on R&D (research and
development) so our young people can have more good, quality jobs," he told the
meeting. The government's official support for private R&D is already the fourth
largest in the world, he added.
The president, however, said all these government efforts meant nothing unless
the people were willing to take on the challenge of finding the best job
available themselves.
"Young people need to take another look at the way they view jobs. Most of our
young people only wish to work for large conglomerates and they do not want to
work outside of Seoul. That is why we still have a mismatch between people
looking for work and companies looking for workers," Lee said.
"I always tell the young people to take up challenges. Working for a small or
medium-sized company can be a challenge. Working in a rural area can be a
challenge. But there is no point in wasting time and doing nothing," he added.
Still, the president said the government's top priority was to create new and
quality jobs for people.
"The highest goal of the government is to create jobs because a great nation is
where willing people can have a job and work. We cannot raise the people's
happiness simply by giving them unemployment benefits," the president said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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