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NARS Holds a Meeting on Gwangju-type Job Policy and Visits Gwangju Global Motors Assembly Line
  On Friday, November 5, National Assembly Research Service (NARS) and Gwangju Jeonnam Research Institute co-hosted a meeting on the ‘Accomplishments and Prospects of Win-win Regional Job Creation Projects in the Gwangju Area.’ Gwangju-type Business Model, the No.1 win-win regional job creation project, has made remarkable achievements since its beginning. The Gwangju-type business model not only dispelled early concerns about its effectiveness, but also produced its first car, the ‘Casper’, which went on sale on September 15, 2021. Other local governments started to benchmark the model and this business model is actively sharing its know-how. The purpose of this meeting was to examine the accomplishments of the Gwangju job creation project, discuss its sustainability and applicability to other regions, and ascertain legislative tasks.

  Yun Sang-yong, co-Chairperson of the Special Commission on Gwangju Job Policy (Professor, Chosun University Department of Economics), gave a speech and Yang Seung-yub (Legislative Research Officer, Environment and Labor Team) participated as discussant. Chairperson Yun kicked off the meeting with his speech, pointing out the economic polarization between the central and periphery regions as background of the Gwangju Job Creation Project. Under circumstances in which local economies’ continue to experience recession, local industries face collapse and the quantity and quality of jobs deteriorates. In order to prevent rural flight by the young and elderly, which has a devastating effect on local communities, the Gwangju Metropolitan City had sought a "Social Cohesion-Oriented job creation policy," and as a product of social consensus between labor, management, government, and community, Gwangju Global Motors (GGM) was built. Gwangju Job Creation Project aims to establish cooperative employer-employee management systems and improve effectiveness based on social dialogue. The systems are specifically operated on four agendas: the right amount of wages, appropriate working hours, labor-management responsible management, and improvement of subcontracting relations.

  There are concerns regarding Gwangju-type jobs might lower overall wage levels and increase amounts of unstable employment conditions. Chairperson Yun pointed out that the wage levels of Gwangju Global Motors are never lower than those of regional small and medium-sized enterprises and they are also under 100% regular worker conditions. However, he emphasized that the concerns about the profit strategy and sustainability of the project is real, so that it is crucial to increase workers’ productivity and for Gwangju Metropolitan City to take the lead in securing the direction and leadership of the project.

  Yang agreed that the first task to prevent rural abandonment is to attract companies, and suggested a number of solutions such as forming networks with research institutes, expanding cultural facilities, developing programs, and creating private funds that provide tax benefits. In addition, Lim Hyung-sub (Gwangju Jeonnam Research Institute, Senior Researcher) introduced that Gwangju Metropolitan City had proposed a special law on Win-win Regional Job Creation Projects for sustainability and ordered for attention to be paid to this.

  To find out more on the current status of Gwangju Global Motors Co. Ltd., the proto-type of the Gwangju-type jobs creation project, Kim Man-heum (Chief of the NARS) and Kim Jun (Legislative Research Officer, Environment and Labor Team), along with others, visited the Gwangju Global Motors Co. Ltd. plant located in Bit-green Industrial Complex, and were briefed on the assembly line and production management system.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY RESEARCH SERVICE NEWSLETTER VOL. 45 | DECEMBER, 2021 | NATIONAL ASSEMBLY RESEARCH SERVICE, REPUBLIC OF KOREA
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