President Moon Jae-in's chief policy adviser has reaffirmed his commitment to the government's "income-led growth" policy, despite growing criticism of minimum wage hikes following the recent grim job data.

Presidential chief of staff for policy Jang Ha-sung defended the economic initiative during a meeting with reporters at the presidential office on Sunday.

Jang said that the recent employment and household income data does not convince him to give up on the income-led growth policy, but rather emphasize the need to speed it up.

The policy chief then vowed to more boldly push economic policies for income-led growth, innovation-driven growth and a fair economy in the latter half of this year.

He said that the government will use all available policy measures to overcome obstacles in the economy, adding it is only the beginning stage because less than a year has passed since the Moon administration's budget and policy have been implemented. 

He said that it takes more time for economic policies to have a real effect.