헌법상 근로권의 실질화를 위한전제와 대안의 모색 - 고용 없는 성장의 현실 인식과 그에 대한 대안 모색을 중심으로 -

Abstract

The significant meaning of labour grows bigger in modern society. In the past, the concept of labour was restricted to manual labour and despised because it was done by low class as an involuntary behaviour to attain an economic income. But now, the meaning of labour includes mental labour as well as manual one, enlarging its function as the important means of not simply economic income but also self-realization. Whereas the significance and meaning of labour grows bigger, the real assurance of the right to labour is ironically weakened. The unemployment cannot be excluded in the capitalistic society which has the competitive economic and employment structure different from the communitarian society, so it is not recently until the unemployment problem is raised for the first time. However, the unemployment problem in the present is quite different from that in the past, in the point of its cause, character and solution etc. The employment problem in the capitalistic society is highly affected by economic situation or structure, which makes the unemployment problem as a structural one due to the change of the economic growth system, not the temporary phenomenon by the shift of working place and economic cycle, so the opportunity to labour in itself becomes remarkably and continuously decreased. The unemployment problem by recession or economic crisis has periodically been troubled. Koreans have experienced mass unemployment because of not only recent international financial crisis but also major restructuring during Asian financial crisis in 1997. However, the increase of employment is below expectation although Korea now gets the reputation of succeedingly overcoming the economic crisis and cleary showing the recovery of economic growth. This situation can be named as an “jobless growth”, which becomes an issue with the visible change of economic structure. The problem is that this is just a start. If a jobless growth gradually spreads out to various industrial department, the premise that economic growth solves the problem of employment simultaneously will be destroyed, which is a burden to both economy and society. The relocation of factory and producing facilities to developing countries and the automation of equipments is indispensable to achieve international competitiveness in global economic era, which otherwise increase the rate of unemployment to be the cause of social unrest and serious problem of both economy and politics. The prolonged mass unemployment era urgently calls for establishing new types of unemployment insurance with the premise of gloomy prediction. The ordinary mass unemployment cannot be prevented due to the change of industrial structure, which makes the reforms of unemployment insurance to be the most effective countermeasure as a positive effort to guarantee the legal and de facto position of many people who cannot even get the opportunity of employment. The establishment of social security network through unemployment insurance cannot solve all the problems. The attempt to solve the problem through the reform of unemployment insurance is part of countermeasure to deal with the gloomy prediction of jobless growth and cannot be a panacea. We should be aware of the fact that the enlargement and reinforcement of unemployment insurance isn’t able to solve all the problems and try the other ways to enlarge the opportunities of employment itself through the adequately restructuring the economic order with the help of unemployment insurance preventing the worst situation. In addition, we should not ignore the efforts to cooperate with the international community.