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The Ministry of Employment and Labor awarded its top rating to its employment safety-net and regional jobs policies in an internal self-assessment, even as youth employment has fallen for 44 consecutive months amid a prolonged chill in the labor market.
According to the ministry's "2025 Self-Assessment Results Report" released Tuesday, the ministry evaluated 47 management tasks included in last year's performance management plan and found that 68 of 71 performance indicators met their targets. The target achievement rate came to 95.8 percent, up 8.8 percentage points from 87 percent the previous year.
By task, two received a first-tier rating, seven a second, seven a third, 15 a fourth, seven a fifth, seven a sixth, and two the lowest seventh-tier rating. Nearly half of all tasks — 22 in total — fell in the top three tiers, while nine landed in the bottom two.
The two tasks awarded the top rating were "strengthening the employment safety net" and "improving the effectiveness of regional and industry-specific jobs projects." The ministry cited the overhaul of the income-based employment insurance system, efforts to identify uncovered workers, and the expansion of locally tailored jobs projects as its key achievements.
"AI transformation of labor administration," "reducing actual working hours," and "reforming labor inspections" received second-tier ratings. "Eradicating wage theft and protecting vulnerable workers," "promoting cooperation between prime and subcontractors," and "improving job-based wage structures" were rated third tier.
By contrast, stabilizing non-regular employment and improving working conditions in both the public and private sectors, systematically addressing labor-management conflicts, and ensuring the sustainability of the wage claim guarantee system all remained at the sixth tier.
"Improving the effectiveness of central government jobs projects" and "preventing serious industrial accidents using AI" received the lowest seventh-tier rating. The on-the-ground implementation of the revised Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union Act was rated fourth tier, a mid-range score.
The top ratings for employment safety-net and regional jobs policies have drawn criticism that a gap exists between how the government assesses policy execution and what workers actually experience — particularly given the continued slump in youth employment.
According to employment trend data from the Ministry of Statistics, the number of employed young people has fallen for 44 consecutive months since November 2022, and the youth employment rate has been declining for 26 straight months. Drops in employment in the manufacturing and construction sectors have also been prolonged.
A gap has also emerged between the ministry's self-assessment and external evaluations.
According to materials from a forum titled "Institutional Reform and Direction of the Lee Jae Myung Administration's Labor Policy," co-hosted by the office of Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Lee Yong-woo and others on July 15, a public perception survey conducted by labor groups and experts gave the government's 38 labor policy tasks an average score of just 68.6 out of 100.
Assessments by the government and labor groups were broadly aligned on issues such as eradicating wage theft and strengthening industrial safety. Significant gaps emerged, however, over non-regular worker protection, the expansion of basic labor rights, and structural labor market reform. The government emphasized policy execution and the achievement of performance indicators, while labor groups and experts concluded that institutional reform and the expansion of basic labor rights remain at an early stage.
The ministry's self-assessment is conducted under the Government Performance Evaluation Framework Act and comprehensively evaluates policy planning, execution, and the degree to which performance targets are met. It is not structured to judge policy outcomes solely on actual employment indicators or public perception.
A ministry official said the results would be reflected in future policy implementation and performance management, and that the ministry plans to improve the performance indicators and execution frameworks for lower-rated tasks.
fact0514@heraldcorp.com
