Ministry of Employment and Labor forms Green Paper discussion body for AI age
Talks to range from platform worker protections to profit-sharing
Green Paper of core questions, not answers, due in three months
A new social discussion body bringing together labor and management groups, youth and unorganized workers has been launched to address how the spread of artificial intelligence is reshaping jobs and forms of work, the social safety net, industrial competitiveness and the sharing of economic gains.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor said Wednesday it held a launch ceremony for the "Green Paper Discussion Body for a New Social Contract in the AI Era" at the Coreana Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul.
The body was formed to examine the challenges the AI transformation poses to the labor market and society at large, and to identify the key questions South Korean society must answer together. Rather than putting forward specific policies or agreements right away, it will focus on setting an agenda for future social dialogue.
The panel has 23 members in total. They include labor and management groups such as the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the Korea Enterprises Federation and the Federation of Korean Industries, along with organizations representing youth, irregular and unorganized workers, including Pulbbang, Youth Union and the Korea Network of Irregular Workers' Organizations. Twelve experts in economics, business administration, political science, sociology and labor law also joined the panel. Kang Sung-jin, president of the Korean Economic Association, will chair the discussions.
Over the next roughly three months, the panel will take up six topics: how AI and technological change are altering job prospects for young people; how to represent the interests of workers in new forms of employment such as platform work, special-type employment and freelancing; the social safety net and the government's role; industrial competitiveness and polarization; how the gains from AI-driven innovation should be shared; and new models for social dialogue.
The outcome of the discussions will not be a specific answer or conclusion but a "Green Paper" that systematically lays out the questions South Korean society must address going forward. The ministry plans to use the Green Paper as the basis for continued social dialogue and public discussion on a new social contract for the AI era.
"The old grammar of the industrial age cannot fully capture this new era," Employment and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said. "We need a new social contract suited to the age of AI."
Kim identified several key tasks: ensuring workers can move securely from jobs eliminated by AI into newly created ones; protecting the rights of platform workers, those in special types of employment and freelancers who work at the margins of existing regulatory systems; and designing a safety net that follows individuals even as their employment status changes.
He added that "competitiveness in the AI era must not be limited to boosting the productivity and profits of a handful of large corporations. We need to build a structure in which the gains from innovation strengthen the capabilities of workers, partner companies and the entire industrial ecosystem, and in which fair distribution leads to reinvestment."
fact0514@heraldcorp.com
