노동시장 국가경쟁력평가 분석 및 정책과제

In the IMD and WEF National Competitiveness Report, Korea’s national competitiveness ranking shows very good results in basic economic conditions and infrastructure such as macroeconomic stability, economic performance, and ICT dissemination. On the other hand, the labor market sector is pointed out as an evaluation sector that lowers Korea’s overall national competitiveness ranking every year. Industrial relations, labor-management cooperation, and workers’ rights are the lowest among the surveyed countries. This study begins with the question of whether the results of IMD and WEF evaluation are justified. In particular, this study argues, the main factor in the labor market sector that lower the overall national competitiveness ranking is not the industrial relations originated from the rigid union movement, which is one of the policy frames that the traditional media shows, but rather the unchanged the CEOs’ negative cognition about industrial relations and union movement. In short, this study suggests that not only continuous dialogue with layered social dialogue channels at various levels such as central, industry, sector, and region to accumulate social trust and social capital among major social actors in the labor market, but also the implementation of the social agreement can be said to be the best way to strengthen the national competitiveness of the labor market.