Shipbuilding Support

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The Korean government has designated the shipbuilding industry as a sector eligible for special government support in a bid to stem rising unemployment. Here’s more.

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Some ten thousand people in the shipbuilding sector have lost their jobs this year alone due to stagnant orders.

[Soundbite] Laid-off Worker from Shipbuilder's Subsidiary(Voice altered) : "To be honest, I don't know where I can find a new job now or how I am going to cover my living expenses. It's heartbreaking."

The government's new policies designed to support employment in the shipbuilding industry focus mostly on stabilizing employment in small and medium-sized firms and shipbuilders' subsidiaries. Businesses that choose to temporarily lay off their workers instead of firing them for good will receive more closing allowances from the government. The policies include extended deadlines for four major public insurances, job training subsidies and assistance in re-employment for those who have lost their jobs. The government will provide approximately 650 million U.S. dollars to some 138,000 workers from more than 7,800 businesses over the course of a year. However, the government has excluded the nation's top-three shipbuilding companies from the list of businesses eligible for subsidies, saying that they must first try to overcome the crisis on their own.

[Soundbite] Lee Ki-kwon(Minister of Employment & Labor) : "Labor and management must be willing to exert efforts to overhaul the wage system based on work performance and cut working hours."

Labor circles blasted the government for causing massive layoffs and restructuring.