: (Employment Policies in Low Growth Period: Case Studies and Empirical Analyses on European Countries)

Abstract

Korean Abstract: 현재 한국이 직면하고 있는 고용률 제고의 문제는 1990~2000년대 유럽 국가들이 직면한 문제와 유사한 측면을 갖고 있다. 유럽 각국은 고속성장을 기대할 수 없는 상황에서 실업률 감소 및 고용률 제고를 위해 장기실업을 억제하고자 다양한 정책을 실시한 바 있다. 그리고 이러한 노력은 고용정책의 성과에 대한 엇갈린 의견에도 불구하고 EU의 평균 고용률이 69%로 한국보다 높은 수준이며, 일부 국가의 경우 고용개혁과 정책추진을 통해 고용률을 대폭 높이는 데 성공하기도 했다. 본 보고서는 유럽 주요국의 고용정책 방향과 내용을 분석하고, 고용유지 및 창출에 초점을 둔 지원정책을 연구함으로써 청년, 여성 및 고령층의 국내 고용률 제고정책 강화에 기여하는 데 목적을 두고 있다. English Abstract: This report suggests policy implications to enhance employment of youth, women and the elderly by researching and analysing the European Union (EU) and its member countries' employment related policies. Currently, Korea is facing problems with employment, as the European countries did during the 1990s and 2000s. In response to the situation, the European countries enforced various policies to reduce unemployment and to increase employment rate. At present, the employment rate of the EU is at around 69%, which is higher level than that of Korea. By implementing labour reforms and policies, several European countries have been successful in improving their employment rates beyond initial expectations. The unemployment rate in Korea is 3.7%, which is the second lowest amongst the OECD member countries after Norway. It is also lower than the half level of the OECD’s average unemployment rate. On the other hand, employment rate in Korea is approximately 65.3%, which is slightly lower than the OECD average, and compared to those of developed countries the gap becomes even wider. Another issue is to improve employment rate of the vulnerable groups, such as youth, women, and the elderly. Accordingly, the Korean government is planning to boost employment rate to 70% by 2017 through the Roadmap for 70% Employment Rate, 2014-2017 and the Three year Economic Reform Plan. In a related move, the Korean government aims to increase the number of jobs by 2.4 million through part time work, or so called flexible employment. To this end, the government is planning to create approximately 930,000 part time jobs. Moreover, the Korean government is emphasising work life balance through child care leave and increased child care services, while improving the employment level of women by expanding social awareness on gender equality. Then, what features do the EU's strategies and policies have to lift employment rate, particularly considering youth, women and the elderly? The deepening of the EU integration has enhanced the role of the EU. In this sense, EU's policies and strategies for employment became an important guideline to project the future direction of the EU member countries' policies. Based on research and interviews with the experts, the key features of employment in the EU are Active Labour Market Policy (ALMP), Vocational Education and Training (VET), and Apprenticeship. First of all, ALMP is an important method with respect to reducing the burden of employers and employees during the period of low economic growth. At the same time, it encourages the unemployed to return to the labour market as soon as possible. In particular, social policies and employment policies are implemented complementarily. Services related to job offering, such as EURES, have been strengthened so that the EU could minimize the job mismatch between the jobseekers and the employers. VET is one of the key policy areas that the EU is focusing on to improve the employment conditions of the disadvantaged groups. However, we can further improve youth employment by implementing VET and Apprenticeship simultaneously. Moreover, it is important for the employers to show willingness to educate the employees. The possibility of an employee changing jobs within the same field would hamper the investment in apprenticeship by the employers, even though the effectiveness of apprenticeship has been fully recognised. Finally, in order to improve employment of the disadvantaged groups, social understanding should be made that a simple employment policy cannot act alone.