Gov"t to Spend 7 Trillion Won to Curb Unemployment

The government plans to spend 7.7 trillion won to alleviate the unemployment problem. It expects that the average unemployment rate will reach 7.5 percent and the number of people unemployed will average 1.6 million this year.
Through government measures, 4.8 million people will receive support through a public works program and unemployment allowance.
The government's budget allotted for unemployment measures increased by 35.7 percent from 1998's total of 5.7 trillion won. An additional 530,000 people will receive unemployment benefits and 320,000 people are eligible to receive job training.
In the first half of this year, the government plans to check rising unemployment by spending a large chunk of its 12.2 trillion-won budget for infrastructure projects as the number of jobless is expected to peak at 1.8 million due to an infusion of graduates into the labor market.
Lee Ki Ho, the minister of labor, stated, 'The number of jobless will fall to the level of 1.5 million due to the economic recovery. If the government's countermeasures for unemployment succeed, 400,000 to 500,000 new jobs will be created by the end of this year.'