Gyeongbuk Province Selects 65 Additional 'Social Enterprises' for Job Creation... Wage Support Provided

From September 1, 398 Applicants... This Year's Support Targets Increased to 155 Companies and 869 People

More than 250 employees of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Office, including Governor Lee Cheol-woo, participated in the "Thanks Challenge" on May 6.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Dong-wook] Gyeongsangbuk-do announced on the 23rd that it has selected 65 social enterprises in the province to participate in the '2020 2nd Social Enterprise Job Creation Project.'

On the 20th, Gyeongbuk Province held a job creation project screening committee and reviewed 67 applicant companies based on social value, employment performance, excellence of business content, and soundness of the business entity, ultimately deciding to support 398 people in 65 social enterprises.

The Social Enterprise Job Creation Project is a program that supports labor costs at the minimum wage level and part of the employer's social insurance premiums for preliminary social enterprises and Ministry of Employment and Labor-certified social enterprises.

Preliminary social enterprises receive differential project funding support for up to 2 years within a 3-year designation period, and certified social enterprises receive support for up to 3 years within 5 years from the start date of the job creation project, with differential rates (preliminary 50~70%, certified 30~60%) depending on the support year. An additional 20% support is provided if vulnerable groups are employed. The standard unit cost (based on 8 hours) is 1,974,030 KRW (minimum wage 1,795,310 KRW + employer's social insurance premium 178,720 KRW).

The companies finally selected for the job creation project this time include 33 new companies (140 people) and 32 companies (258 people) subject to re-examination as their contracts expire in the second half, totaling 65 companies. They will receive project funding for one year starting from September 1.

As a result, a total of 869 people from 155 companies, including those selected through the first round of public recruitment, will receive support in this year's 'Social Enterprise Job Creation Project.'

Currently, there are 324 social enterprises in Gyeongbuk Province, including 140 preliminary social enterprises. This is the third largest number nationwide after Seoul and Gyeonggi, and according to Gyeongbuk Province, the number of employees and sales have steadily increased, indicating both quantitative and qualitative growth trends. The number of employees increased by 334 (13.3%) from 2,513 in 2017 to 2,847 in 2018, and sales increased by 68 billion KRW (28.5%) from 239.1 billion KRW to 307.1 billion KRW during the same period.

Kim Ho-jin, Director of the Job Economy Office of Gyeongbuk Province, said, "Social enterprises realize human-centered social values to create a warm and happy society and play a solid role in the local economy," adding, "We will do our best to discover and support various policies for the sustainable growth of social enterprises."

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