Hwasun-gun Expands Operation of 'Public Sector Jobs' Amid Prolonged COVID-19 Pandemic

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Young-gyun] Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Gu Chung-gon) announced on the 14th that it is expanding and operating public sector jobs to minimize damage such as employment instability and regional economic recession caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The county is implementing four employment and job measures (with a project budget of 4.484 billion KRW), including advance payment of activity fees and expansion of activity hours for senior citizen job projects, expansion of public work jobs and support for daycare center cooks, and expansion of forest-type public jobs.

In addition, the county paid about 1.2 billion KRW by last month as one month’s activity fee (270,000 KRW) to about 4,400 participants in seven public interest-type senior citizen job projects that had been suspended.

When the senior citizen job projects resume, the activity hours for the projects will be expanded to 30 hours.

Along with this, the county plans to invest 1.3 billion KRW to expand public work jobs from the original 107 to 160 people and to extend the working hours of daycare center cooks from 2.5 hours to 5 hours to provide support.

The forest-type public jobs have been expanded from the original 115 to 188 by adding 73 people.

The county plans to invest about 1.6 billion KRW in four fields of forest-type public jobs: 33 forest biomass collection teams (an increase of 24), 119 spring forest fire prevention and suppression teams (an increase of 49), 5 forest care patrols, and 31 kudzu vine removal post-management teams.

The forest biomass collection teams, forest care patrols, and kudzu vine removal post-management teams have completed participant recruitment and have been operating since the 6th.

The forest biomass collection teams collect wood by-products generated in forest care areas to recycle resources and remove vines and other plants that damage the ecosystem and natural scenery.

The forest care patrol work team, composed of professional forestry technicians, removes dead and damaged trees within residential areas and carries out various forest damage prevention and rapid restoration activities.

The kudzu vine removal post-management team removes kudzu vines and weeds along roadsides within the jurisdiction to create a pleasant forest environment.

The 119 spring forest fire prevention and suppression team members have been actively conducting forest fire prevention activities such as fire prevention, monitoring, illegal burning crackdowns, and fire suppression operations since February to ensure the safety of forests and residents.

The county expects that the expansion of forest-type public job projects and public work jobs will contribute to stabilizing the lives of residents struggling to make a living and revitalizing the stagnant local economy.

A county official said, “Due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, all sectors including self-employed small business owners, farmers, and vulnerable employment groups are experiencing difficulties. We will continue to discover and implement public jobs that vulnerable employment groups can participate in, sector-specific support measures, and local economic revitalization plans in response to COVID-19.”

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