S. Korea aims to boost employment rate to 70 pct by 2017

SEOUL, March 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea aims to create more than 2 million new jobs to boost the country's employment rate to 70 percent by 2017, the labor ministry said Friday. In its 2013 policy plan reported to President Park Geun-hye, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said it will create an average of 476,000 new jobs annually, totaling 2.38 million in five years. The country's employment rate, which measures the number of employed people as a proportion of the population aged 15 or older, stood at 57.2 percent last month, according to government statistics. Laying out a policy plan on various labor issues, ministry officials said they will customize policies especially for the youth and women. The employment rate for women came to 53.5 percent last year, the officials said, adding that they will create 1.65 million new jobs for women to boost the rate to 61.9 percent by 2017. The ministry said its agenda also includes creating 490,000 new jobs for the youth, boosting the youth employment rate to 47.7 percent by the end of this administration. Amid a prolonged slump in the labor market for young people, the ministry said it will start a new policy from June that will help young people realize their dreams through competition based on skills and abilities, not on a list of qualifications. The so-called "Mentor School" will provide job-seekers with the ability to meet mentors in different sectors so that the youth can gain advice and education for their career search, officials said. The ministry said it will make it obligatory for firms to set the retirement age, or the age when a person begins receiving an old-age pension on a full-scale, at 60 years old, starting from 2017. As part the government efforts to provide employment opportunities for senior citizens, the ministry said it will expand and encourage more enterprises to hire elderly workers. khj@yna.co.kr (END)