Passage of extra budget

The National Assembly approved an 11.03 trillion won ($10 billion) supplementary budget Saturday after twists and turns. The passage came 45 days after it was submitted to the Assembly. Lawmakers cut back about 150 billion won from the initial 11.2 trillion won plan.

The core issue was the government’s proposal to create 4,500 new central government jobs. But the plan faced strong protests from the opposition parties, and the number of new jobs was cut to 2,575.

Given the country’s dire jobless situation, it is fortunate that the new administration’s first extra budget plan has passed the legislature — albeit belatedly. In the process of deliberating on the budget, the parties were poles apart concerning whether public-sector jobs must be increased.

The government and the ruling party insisted on having the extra budget contain job-related spending to help ease youth unemployment. But opposition lawmakers called into question whether the country needs new public-sector jobs. They said hiring more civil servants will be a burden to future generations because public-sector jobs have a guaranteed tenure and generous pension benefits.

So the parties reached an ambiguous compromise on the scale of the newly created jobs after much difficulty. But it is doubtful whether it is right to add civil servants through such a partisan compromise.

What is certain is that it would be wrong-headed if the government tried to resolve the unemployment problem with taxpayers’ money. The government should press ahead with market-friendly policies, including deregulation, so the private sector can play the role of locomotive in job creation.

To offset the delay in the parliamentary approval of the extra budget, the government said it will come up with detailed plans to execute 70 percent of the budget before October. This is the right move, and we can only hope that the quick execution of funding will help improve our worsening labor market conditions, which might in turn boost domestic consumption.

In retrospect, the public cannot help but be disenchanted with old-fashioned politics that have been laid bare even after the inauguration of the new administration. The existing parties could be doomed unless they comply with the people’s strong call for new politics.