Trends in Legislation on Employment and Labor 16)

The most important of the laws enacted concerning VT in the 1960s was the Vocational Training Act in 1967. This Act was intended to facilitate the systematic training of skilled manpower for production-related industries, following the experience of a skilled manpower shortage during the First 5-Year Economic Development Plan.

Based on this Act, the Office of Labor took a lead in full-scale VT, producing vocational training instructors and establishing public training facilities for the development of skilled manpower. The Act also made it possible for the government to grant subsidies to encourage employers to develop skilled manpower. However, as subsidy budget support came to a halt due to difficulties in securing budgets, skilled manpower development by employers decreased rapidly, and the government was forced to make in-plant VT compulsory.

<Table 4-1> Changes in VT System by Stage of Economic Development

Before introduction of employment insurance After introduction of employment insurance

1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

Economic

Source: Recent data added to <Table I-3-1> in Na et al. (2011).

Before introduction of employment insurance After introduction of employment insurance

1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

Economic

Since the early 1970s, the manpower shortage became worse due to the construction boom in the Middle East and excessive competition in securing manpower became a social problem. As a result, the Act on Special Measures for Vocational Training was enacted in 1974, introducing the compulsory in-plant VT system. Subsequently, the Framework Act on Vocational Training was enacted in 1976 which integrated the Vocational Training Act and the Act on Special Measures for Vocational Training and introduced the VT expenses contribution system. As a result, the systems related to compulsory in-plant VT were reformed. The compulsory in-plant VT system mandated that the six main industries, such as the manufacturing industry, which use a lot of skilled manpower, carry out vocational training for a certain ratio of employees, and requires any employers who fail to perform this duty to pay a corresponding share of the expenses.

The Vocational Training Promotion Funds Act was enacted in 1976 and provided the basis for using the expenses collected to pay for VT training by third party agencies, as well as for accident compensation, expenses related to public training facilities and in-plant VT, research and development expenses, education publicity expenses, and so on.

The National Technical Qualifications Act was also enacted in 1974 and aimed to systematize the previously sporadic technical qualifications system, enhance the quality and social status of technicians, systematically improve technical education, and produce highly skilled workers whose demand was expected to rise by establishing the national technical qualifications system required for key industries such as the heavy and chemical industries. Subsequently, in 1984, the government introduced refresher courses and a periodic renewal registration system for technical qualification holders in order to promote the dispersion of new technologies and enhancement in skills. In 2014, the link between education and training and the acquisition of qualifications was strengthened by

relevant ministries to acquire the corresponding national technical qualifications without having to sit through the national technical qualifications examination.

In the early 1980s, despite the decreased demand for human resources development as a direct result of stunned growth due to the oil crisis, businesses began to feel the necessity to train their incumbent workers for enhancement. In March 1982, the Human Resources Development Service of Korea (Korea Vocational Training Management Corporation at that time) was established and the Framework Act on Vocational Training was amended at the same time in order to promote efficiency in public vocational training. As a means to establish an efficient human resource management system, the Institute of Public Vocational Training (that was established under the Framework Act on Vocational Training) was merged and integrated with the Korea Vocational Training Management Corporation in accordance with the Korea Vocational Training Management Corporation Act, and regulations concerning qualification tests were included in the National Technical Qualifications Act.

With the introduction of the employment insurance system in 1995, VT was included as one of the three major employment insurance fund projects and the compulsory VT system was abolished. Instead, it was included in the employment insurance vocational skills development project a more comprehensive support system as a means to strengthen the vocational skills of all workers. The Worker Vocational Training Promotion Act of 1999 (renamed as the Workers Vocational Skills Development Act in 2004) was enacted as a replacement for the Framework Act on Vocational Training. The Act repealed the compulsory VT system and made it possible for for-profit agencies, business organizations, individuals, and others with accredited/designated training facilities and training curricula to provide VT, contrary to the previous practice of only allowing non-profit organizations meeting specific requirements to provide training. In order to promote training for the enhancement of incumbent workers, training curricula

outside the existing criteria were newly established so as to be legally recognized and eligible for training cost support. The Vocational Training Promotion Funds Act was repealed and became unified as the employment insurance vocational skills development project fund.

As Korea’s importance in the global economy increases, the performance and efficiency of the VT system are regarded as important. There is also a greater need for policies intended to ensure the lifetime employability of all people, including incumbent workers and those in socially vulnerable groups. The Worker Vocational Training Promotion Act, together with the Employment Insurance Act, played a crucial role in supporting VT for the unemployed after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. However, the Regulatory Reform Committee pointed out that the Act transferred too many regulations to its lower-level Decrees, and that there was a need to amend the top-level Act as before. As a result, the full text of the Worker Vocational Training Promotion Act was amended and the Act was renamed as the Workers Vocational Skills Development Act in 2004. The purpose of the Act was amended to read, ‘to stabilize the employment of workers and to improve their social and economic status by facilitating and supporting the development of occupational abilities throughout their lifetime with the aim of improving the productivity of enterprises and contributing to the social and economic development.’ Though similar to the purpose of the previous Worker Vocational Training Promotion Act, lifelong vocational skills development was emphasized by adding the phrase ‘throughout their lifetime’.

Since 2007, discrimination based on gender, age, physical condition, employment status, beliefs, social status or others in VT has been expressly prohibited. As a means to promote self-directed VT by workers, in 2008 the government introduced the vocational skills development account system which provided comprehensive

expanded to include employed workers preparing to change jobs or start new businesses, in addition to the unemployed, so that they would become eligible for VT cost support.

The government introduced the National Competency Standards (NCS) and the national qualifications system in 2007 in order to strengthen the education/training-qualification-industry tie. In 2013, the government strengthened the administration and supervision of private qualifications by introducing the pre-registration system as a means to prevent consumer harm associated with private qualifications. Furthermore, in order to strengthen the link between education/training and publicly recognized qualifications, it became possible for applicants to acquire publicly recognized qualifications by taking education and training courses without having to sit through the existing qualifications tests.