Jeong Dong-su, a People Power Party member of the Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Assembly representing Donghae 2, raised concerns Thursday at the 350th regular session's administrative audit of the economy bureau over how job-placement results are counted and managed, and over the absence of manufactured goods export figures.
Reviewing the number of job placements reported by the province and its affiliated employment agencies, Jeong noted that audit documents explicitly stated the figures reflected "the number of participants in employment services — including job-seeker and job-poster inquiries and information referrals — regardless of whether actual employment occurred." He said the criteria for determining whether someone has been hired must be clearly defined and systematically applied, and that the economy bureau should issue management guidelines to affiliated agencies even for programs it does not directly run.
Jeong also said the province needs to track, in a more integrated way, whether people who receive job-placement assistance and training end up working in fields related to their studies, whether they join companies within Gangwon Province, or whether they leave for other regions. "The whole point of a job-creation program is to get even one more person employed," he said. "If you are spending the budget, you need to get results worth what you spent."
On exports, Jeong asked why Gangwon Export Co. had recorded no manufactured goods exports for three consecutive years. The executive branch said the company operates with a staff of only five, and that expanding its scope beyond raw materials and agricultural products to cover manufactured goods would exceed its staffing capacity.
"If we simply give up and cut ties with that sector, Gangwon becomes a local government with no real will to pursue exports," Jeong said. He called on the executive branch to act as a catalyst, opening pathways that would eventually allow companies to move forward on their own.
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