2024.07.10. The Fair Economy — The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said that Deputy Prime Minister and MSF Chief Choi Sang-mok chaired a meeting of senior economic officials at the Government Seoul Complex in Jongno District, Seoul, on the 10th. The agenda included regulatory innovation and solutions to field-level issues in emerging industries (Part II), employment trends for June 2024, measures to build legal, institutional and infrastructural foundations for the used battery industry, and improvements to the national contract system.
According to the ministry, Deputy Prime Minister Choi said the employment rate and labor force participation rate in June hit record highs for the 29th straight month, while the unemployment rate was at its second-lowest level on record. However, he noted that the number of employed people rose by a modest 96,000 from the previous month, with temporary factors such as heat waves partly holding back job growth. He also said difficulties persisted in some areas, including a widening decline in construction employment and a continued drop in the number of self-employed workers.
In response, Choi said the government will more closely monitor and respond to employment conditions, including weekly reviews of employment situations by industry and demographic group led by an inter-ministerial jobs task force, and swiftly devise tailored job measures for sectors experiencing employment declines. He also said the government will push ahead without a hitch with the 25 trillion won (about $18 billion) comprehensive package for small business owners and self-employed announced last week, actively supporting the easing of their management burdens and new beginnings such as re-employment.
Separately, Deputy Prime Minister Choi said that despite overall stability in real estate indicators, price volatility has recently been growing, particularly in some parts of Seoul. In response, the government plans to swiftly supply undeveloped housing stock, including from the third-phase new towns, and to actively consider additional measures to expand supply if necessary. It also plans to maintain its policy of steadily bringing down household debt, including by expanding the scope of the Stressed DSR from September as scheduled.
Adding to this, Choi said that amid many people perceiving that "the economy is still difficult," the most important thing is the "speed" at which policies are delivered to the field. He said all ministries, local governments, and related agencies will work together like a "pit crew" that completes maintenance in seconds during auto races, thoroughly checking that policies are implemented quickly but successfully.
At the meeting, officials discussed measures to lay the institutional groundwork for treating used batteries from retired electric vehicles as a "resource" rather than "waste"; a second round of regulatory reforms and measures to resolve on-site difficulties in new industries such as autonomous driving, building on the fintech and robotics deregulation measures announced last March; and improvements to the national contract system aimed at lowering barriers for startups entering the procurement market and supporting a recovery in the construction industry.
Among the meeting agenda items, the regulatory innovation and on-site difficulty resolution measures for new industries (II) were presented in a video report format using a generative artificial intelligence (AI) announcer. Generative AI is a type of AI that can output new content through training based on large-scale data. This is the first case of using an AI announcer at a ministerial-level government meeting. The government plans to continue actively utilizing digital new technologies where appropriate to reduce administrative waste and increase work efficiency.
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