Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yoon-chul Visits Senior Job Sites Ahead of Lunar New Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] On the 23rd, ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, Koo Yoon-cheol, Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, visited a senior job site located in Cheongwon-gu, Cheongju City.

On this day, Vice Minister Koo toured the senior job site with related agencies and workers, listened to their difficulties, and visited the job site by directly experiencing being a barista at a silver cafe. He also purchased winter scarves made by the elderly and donated them to the Uam-dong Community Center in Cheongju City so they could be delivered to neighbors in need.

Previously, the government has poured budgetary and policy support to expand senior jobs. Regarding the budget, it steadily increased from 634.9 billion won in 2018 to 922.8 billion won last year, and to approximately 1.2015 trillion won this year.

In particular, this year's budget plans to support 740,000 senior jobs, an increase of 130,000 compared to the previous year, to expand work opportunities for job-seeking seniors with high work motivation. Additionally, the participation period for jobs has been extended from an average of 9 months to a maximum of 12 months, allowing jobs that were previously available only after March to be available from January.

Furthermore, for market-type business groups such as silver cafes and side dish stores, the related support unit price has been increased from 2.3 million won per year to 2.67 million won. For social service types such as nursing and childcare, participation conditions have been relaxed from existing basic pension recipients to those aged 65 and over.

Vice Minister Koo stated, "The government plans to meet the increasing demand for senior jobs due to the retirement of the baby boomer generation and the entry of the elderly population, while expanding various senior job models that allow the elderly to fully demonstrate their capabilities."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.