"Priority Support for Employment Retention Companies"…Additional Points and Preferences in Ministry of Trade and SMEs Projects

Minister Lee Jae-gap of the Ministry of Employment and Labor. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The government is expanding benefits for companies that maintain employment to minimize unemployment caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

On the 12th, Lee Jae-gap, Minister of Employment and Labor, held the 2nd Employment Crisis Response Team meeting at the Government Complex Sejong and stated, "We focused on discussing plans to redesign various corporate support projects by each ministry from the perspective of 'employment maintenance.'"

He added, "We intend to discover and promote various job-related tasks with the principle of prioritizing support for companies maintaining employment."

On this day, each ministry shared tasks that prioritize support for employment-maintaining companies in technology development (R&D), export and trade, and promotion and marketing. Tasks that can be implemented immediately will be carried out as quickly as possible within the first half of the year, and tasks requiring budget will be pursued in cooperation with related ministries.

First, companies that maintain or expand employment will be given priority opportunities in various government R&D projects such as ▲preferential treatment in SME R&D projects (Ministry of SMEs and Startups) ▲priority support for regional innovation cluster development (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy) ▲preferential support for growth of core research personnel (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy).

Employment-maintaining companies will also receive preferential treatment in export and trade support projects. These include ▲additional points when participating in overseas expansion projects such as overseas standard certification and export consortiums (Ministry of SMEs and Startups) ▲doubling the trade finance limit and 50% discount on insurance premiums (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy) ▲additional points when selected for export voucher companies (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy) ▲additional points when participating in global support projects that provide overseas marketing costs as vouchers (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy).

Additionally, to revitalize domestic demand, companies maintaining or expanding employment will be given preferential treatment when participating in the 'Korea Together Sale' event held in four regions centered on areas affected by COVID-19.

Minister Lee stated, "We will actively discover digital, non-face-to-face, and AI job tasks in preparation for the post-COVID era and continue efforts to overcome the crisis and transition to a leading economy."

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