S. Korean gov't proposes US$ 3.7 bil. extra budget to boost job creation

The Moon Jae-in administration's multi-billion dollar supplementary budget to reduce the nation's stubbornly high youth unemployment rate will head to the National Assembly today for their review. It's the second extra budget since the start of the less-than-a-year-old Moon administration,... that is solely for the purpose of creating more jobs.Kim Hyesung tells us more. The government has proposed a supplementary budget worth about 3-point-7 billion U.S. dollars, which will be submitted to the National Assembly Friday for approval.The extra spending is aimed at tackling South Korea's high youth unemployment, which the government sees as a developing crisis, and at helping regional economies hit by corporate restructuring. The government's goal is to bring youth unemployment down to below 8 percent by 2021, from last year's 9-point-8 percent, and to create around 50-thousand jobs for young people. Of the total extra budget, 2-point-7-5 billion dollars are to be used to support small and mid-sized companies that hire new full-time employees and to subsidize their wages.There are also tax incentives for new workers and for smaller-sized firms that hire them. The Finance Ministry said the remaining 950 million dollars will go to domestic automobile and shipbuilding companies in the restructuring process. If passed, this would be the second extra budget under President Moon Jae-in. Last year, the Moon administration formed a 10.5 billion dollar supplementary budget to create more quality jobs. South Korea has passed extra budgets every year since 2015; the latest proposal worth 3-point-7 billion dollars would be the smallest one since 2006.But there's no guarantee this one will pass the National Assembly. Opposition lawmakers are against it, and the ruling Democratic Party holds just 41 percent of the body's 293 seats.Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.