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| Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon closes his eyes at an emergency meeting with lawmakers over the country's weak job data at the National Assembly, Sunday. Yonhap |
By Park Hyong-ki
President Moon Jae-in is facing growing calls to reshuffle his economic team at Cheong Wa Dae, especially Jang Ha-sung, the chief of staff for policy, following last week's weak job data.
The opposition and minor parties are joining forces to increase their pressure to have the President admit his pro-labor policy has failed, and consequently replace Jang with an economist who can start coordinating effectively with the finance ministry at ground zero.
The conservative Liberty Korea Party (LKP) has lashed out at the Moon administration, saying it still will not admit it has failed.
"It instead will push forward with a useless and ineffective fiscal stimulus," LKP spokesman Yoon Young-seok said.
Bareunmirae Party (BMP) Rep. Ha Tae-kyung called Jang "just a person who writes books and does not know economics," while Party for Democracy and Peace floor leader Jang Byung-wan said Jang and Labor Minister Kim Young-joo should both step down.
The political pressure increased after Economy and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon and Jang showed their differences again over their policy directions for the job market following an emergency meeting with lawmakers Sunday.
Kim said the ministry will have to consider improving and changing its policies as it reviews the effectiveness of those it has implemented.
Jang, meanwhile, asked for more time and faith in the administration, assuring the effectiveness of its income-driven growth.
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| Jang Ha-sung, center, chief of staff for policy, speaks about the latest job data at a meeting with lawmakers at the National Assembly, Sunday. Yonhap |
The two have been at odds as Jang has been raising his voice for chaebol reform and correcting the wealth distribution system since he was a Korea University business professor. Kim, a former president of Ajou University, began to switch gears to focus more on encouraging the private sector to lead innovation and job creation as he expressed concern over the rapid rise in the minimum wage.
As the two grew seemingly wider apart, Kim and the finance ministry looked powerless, with Jang being in control behind President Moon, who was too focused on carrying out his policy on North Korea without giving any clear directions for the economy at home.
Analysts say the latest job data was the result of a policy failure stemming from the disparity within the administration and its one-sided, narrow approach to economic policymaking.
The number of jobs created in July stood at 5,000, which many called "shocking with a new crisis brewing in the market." Employment is usually the last data to be released among economic indices.
All "four wheels" ― business, labor, innovation and market structural reform ― should have been turning especially in the face of a slowing economy, analysts say.
"The job data proved the income-led policy has failed. The government should restart devising its policies, whether labor, business or innovation, from the beginning," said Sung Tae-yoon, an economist at Yonsei University.
Analysts also said they expected weak employment figures given the economic conditions, but the 5,000 newly created jobs were far lower than anyone forecasted.
The country is likely to continue suffering from a lack of jobs as long as the government pushes back market structural reforms.
"The market has not changed a bit since the global financial crisis with the private sector playing the same game over the last decade. The country has to carry out a wide-scale reform in the likes of what it did in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis," said Park Jeong-woo, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities.
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