Gwangju City Supports 50% of Labor Costs for Hiring Small Business and Small Manufacturing Workers

Mayor Lee Yong-seop Holds Press Conference to Announce the 6th Livelihood Stability Measures

Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop announced the 6th Livelihood Stabilization Measures to Protect the Local Economy on the 6th, including a support plan to cover 50% of labor costs for new hires in small business and small manufacturing sectors. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City will support 50% of the labor costs for 3,000 citizens newly hired by small business owners and small-scale manufacturers to boost citizens' motivation and life stability amid difficulties caused by COVID-19 and to ease the employment burden on small business owners and small manufacturers.

On the morning of the 6th, Mayor Lee Yong-seop of Gwangju announced the "6th Livelihood Stabilization Measures to Protect the Local Economy from COVID-19" at the city hall briefing room.

The support details include providing 50% of the minimum labor cost, up to 898,000 KRW per person per month, for six months when new personnel are hired and enrolled in the four major social insurances at manufacturing companies with 30 or fewer employees and small businesses with 5 or fewer employees.

However, to extend benefits to more companies, support will be limited to up to 3 persons per manufacturing company and 1 person per small business.

Gwangju City plans to announce this in mid-month, and detailed application information and procedures will be provided through a one-stop banner on the Gwangju City website.

Mayor Lee Yong-seop said, "Now is the time to prepare for the post-COVID-19 era. We will devote all capabilities and resources to recover the local economy, which has been contracted due to COVID-19, and to expand citizens' jobs. Using temporary support for job creation and public jobs as a catalyst, we will create sustainable and stable jobs to stabilize citizens' lives and revitalize the local economy."

Meanwhile, Gwangju City has announced five rounds of "Livelihood Stabilization Measures to Protect the Local Economy from COVID-19" so far.

The 1st round (March 15) included a special guarantee support policy with three no's: no interest, no collateral, and no guarantee fees for small business owners and self-employed; the 2nd round (March 19) included three major citizen benefits such as public utility fee reductions to ease citizens' burdens; the 3rd round (March 23) included Gwangju-style three major emergency livelihood funds for COVID-19 affected households; the 4th round (March 26) included employment retention support measures for small business owners and small enterprises; and the 5th round (April 8) announced a livelihood-type public job project.

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