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17 February 2021 By Robyn Mak Follow @mak_robyn

President Moon Jae-in is exploring a plan to encourage corporate titans such as Samsung to share pandemic profit with struggling peers. A crisis that includes soaring unemployment is a good time for bold policy. Shoring up public safety nets would be a better long-term fix.

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South Korea’s unemployment rate jumped to 5.4% in January, the highest since 1999, according to official data released on Feb. 10. The number of employed declined by 982,000 during the month from a year earlier, the fastest pace since 1998, as Covid-19 distancing measures hurt businesses mostly in the services sector.

Workers at retailers, accommodation facilities and restaurants were the hardest hit, losing 586,000 jobs from a year earlier.

In a Jan. 27 speech at the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda event, President Moon Jae-in said his administration and the legislature were discussing a plan where the government “provides strong incentives” to companies that prospered during the pandemic to share profit with struggling peers.

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