South Korea launches deliberative forum to map employment policy for industrial transition era

As AI, digital transformation and the spread of carbon neutrality rapidly reshape industrial structures, the government has begun gathering views from labor, business, youth and middle-aged workers to draft an employment stability blueprint for the industrial transition era. The effort aims to accelerate work on a master plan to minimize job disruptions from the changes while supporting new job creation and occupational retraining.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor held a deliberative roundtable Tuesday at the Royal Hotel Seoul to develop the "Industrial Transition Employment Stability Master Plan." More than 50 participants attended — including representatives from labor and management, youth, middle-aged and women's groups, regional stakeholders, special-type workers and platform workers — to discuss the direction of employment policy in response to industrial transition.

The roundtable was organized to assess the impact of AI and digital transformation and green transition on the labor market and to incorporate on-the-ground views into policy. Ahead of the session, the ministry conducted an online public pre-vote to collect opinions on key policy tasks, which were then used as baseline material for the discussions.

Participants split into six working groups covering industrial transition monitoring, capacity building, job creation, employment safety nets, workplace improvement and foundational principles. After discussing priority tasks in each area, they held an on-site vote to rank them by urgency, then deepened debate on key issues in a second round of discussion.

Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said in a video address that "a new social contract suited to the currents of change in the transition era is needed, and people — not technology — must remain at the center no matter what changes come," adding that "the answer to that social contract must ultimately be found through dialogue." He added that "when the voices of citizens and the deliberations from the field come together today, the master plan will become a commitment built by everyone."

The ministry plans to consolidate the day's discussions and field input to release the Industrial Transition Employment Stability Master Plan as soon as possible. The plan will cover the establishment of an industrial transition monitoring system, stronger employment safety nets for vulnerable groups, skills development for occupational retraining, and measures to create new jobs.