Emergency Employment Stability Subsidy 'Crisis' Draws 10,000 Ministry of Employment Staff

940,000 Applications in One Month, Payment Delays... Ministry of Employment's Rapid Payment Measures
1.5 Million Won for Special Employment and Self-Employed... Unable to Keep Promise of 'Payment Within 2 Weeks of Application'
Minister Lee Jae-gap: "Cases of Untimely Payments Occurred... We Apologize"

Minister Lee Jae-gap of the Ministry of Employment and Labor visited the COVID-19 Emergency Employment Stability Support Fund Task Force in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 3rd and held a meeting with officials. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Ministry of Employment and Labor has come up with measures after a month regarding the emergency employment stabilization subsidy crisis. About 10,000 employees from the ministry headquarters and local offices will be mobilized to handle the review and payment of the subsidy. Minister Lee Jae-gap bowed his head, expressing regret over the delay in subsidy payments.

On the morning of the 29th, Minister Lee held an "Employment and Labor Crisis Response TF Policy Meeting" at the Government Complex Sejong and announced measures for the rapid payment of the emergency employment stabilization subsidy. The emergency employment stabilization subsidy is a program that provides 1.5 million KRW to stabilize the livelihoods of special-type workers and freelancers whose income has decreased due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), small business owners, and unpaid leave workers.

Since the start of online and offline applications on the 1st, the number of applicants surged to 940,000 within a month, causing delays in the review and payment process. Initially, the plan was to pay 1 million KRW within two weeks of application and then pay the remaining 500,000 KRW after the third supplementary budget was approved, but ultimately, this promise was not kept.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor explained that the cause of the situation was the lack of supporting documents proving the decrease in income or sales due to COVID-19. A ministry official said, "More than 80% of special-type workers and freelancers had insufficient supporting documents because they had no prior experience properly proving their income," adding, "It took a lot of time to request supplements and verify." Currently, the payment rate is known to be in the single digits, and the ministry has not officially announced statistics, stating that the reliability is low.

On the 22nd, when offline applications for the 'COVID-19 Emergency Employment Stability Support Fund,' which provides 1.5 million won per person to special-type workers, freelancers, small self-employed individuals, and unpaid leave workers, began, citizens were submitting their applications on-site at the Employment Welfare Plus Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

In his opening remarks at the meeting, Minister Lee said, "I apologize as the minister in charge that there have been cases where subsidies were not received on time," and added, "We will do our best to ensure that support is provided as soon as possible." He decided to operate an "intensive processing period" involving all ministry employees for the next three weeks. To expedite subsidy payments, about 10,000 employees from the headquarters and local offices will be deployed to the task.

Minister Lee stated, "For the next three weeks, all employees from the headquarters and local offices, including myself, will work together to sequentially review eligibility and process payments starting with earlier applications, concentrating the entire ministry's capabilities to ensure support is received promptly."

Previously, the ministry had established eight payment centers dedicated to the emergency employment stabilization subsidy in Seoul, Sejong, and Busan, and hired 1,300 temporary workers to handle the tasks. However, due to the overwhelming workload, temporary workers reportedly quit midway, making the situation on the ground difficult. Since the application deadline is the 20th of next month, the ministry decided to utilize its own employees rather than hiring additional temporary workers to reinforce manpower. Minister Lee also sent an email to all ministry employees that morning, asking for their understanding and cooperation.

Efforts to simplify supporting documents are also underway. The ministry plans to further simplify the documentation required to prove income reduction after the COVID-19 crisis and to recognize a wider variety of supporting materials, thereby rationally improving the review and verification procedures.

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