South Korean Official Visits MERIC
Sung-Yu
Moon, an official with the South Korean Ministry of Planning &
Budget, was sent to the Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED),
International Sales division, as a visiting scholar. He recently visited
MERIC to learn about its data collection programs, its uses and
origins.
South Korea has sustained incredible growth and integration into the world economy
since the early 1960s, and is investigating the need for better data
collection methods. Although
Korean kingdoms date back almost
1,000 years, the current democratic government dates only from 1948.
Big Business
Four
decades ago, South Korean GDP per capita was comparable with levels in the poorer
countries of Africa and Asia. In 2004, South Korea joined the
trillion dollar club of world economies and now has the third
highest GDP in Asia behind China and Japan.
South Korea is also the third largest recipient of Missouri exports. The value of Missouri products shipped to the Land of the Morning Calm skyrocketed more than 400 percent from 2004 to 2005, from just over $113 million in 2004 to almost $572 million in 2005, especially transportation equipment ($390 million).
Mr. Moon inquired about such issues as MERIC’s relationship with DED (MERIC is a largely federally funded entity, under DED), the number of MERIC employees (currently 41), and how MERIC and the federal government collaborate in such programs as:
● The
Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey. Begun in 1939,
this survey of
payroll records covers over 300,000 nonfarm businesses on a monthly basis and
provides detailed industry data on
employment levels, hours and earnings of
workers.
● The
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program.
Formerly
known as ES-202, and, like CES, dating from the late 1930s.
QCEW produces
comprehensive employment and wage data of workers covered by unemployment
insurance laws. QCEW is a virtual economic census of employment and wages
each
quarter, based on quarterly contribution reports from more than eight
million employers.
● The
Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program, founded in 1976.
The
program produces monthly and annual employment, unemployment and
labor force
data for census regions and divisions, states, metropolitan areas,
small labor
market areas, counties and many cities.
● The
Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. It's new – 1998 --
and
produces employment and wage estimates for over 700
occupations. These are
estimates of the number of people employed in certain
occupations and estimates
of the wages paid to them. The OES
program surveys approximately 200,000
establishments per survey cycle, taking
three years to fully collect the sample of
1.2 million establishments.
● The Mass Layoff
Statistics (MLS) program, also new, 1996. It is a cooperative
statistical effort which uses a standardized,
automated approach to identify,
describe, and track the effects of major job
cutbacks using data from each state.
Mr. Moon learned about federal-state cooperative statistical
programs. MERIC learned that South
Korea is a dynamic economy with many potential opportunities for
Missouri businesses.
Contact Information
For more information about business
opportunities in South Korea, contact
Zatuilla Nara,
International Business Manager, Asia Pacific/Japan, 573-751-6728,
zatuilla.nara@ded.mo.gov.
For more information about South Korea, visit the government's web portal at http://www.korea.net/
Sources: Interview, CIA Factbook, MERIC export data, program websites.