Choo Kyung-ho: "4,425 Jobs with Costs Larger Than Benefits... Fully Cut"

50,000 Won Paid Per Youth... 360 Managers Paid 2.36 Million Won Monthly
Management Staff for Self-Sufficiency Participants Earning 1.86 Million Won Monthly Also Organized... 3 Million Won Monthly

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] On the 17th, criticism arose that the budget for short-term jobs managing support funds in the 4th supplementary budget (supplementary budget) for COVID-19 damage relief was recklessly allocated.

Choo Kyung-ho, the People Power Party's ranking member of the National Assembly Budget and Accounts Special Committee, stated on the same day, "Out of 17 projects, 7 projects included 4,425 jobs that are bigger than the main purpose, totaling 43.9 billion KRW, which was slyly included," adding, "We will cut the entire amount along with the 92.89 billion KRW for communication expenses support."

He pointed to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's self-support project as a representative example. This project involves paying participants 1.86 million KRW per month for two months. The 4th supplementary budget includes hiring 85 new personnel to manage these participants and allocates a budget of 1.1 billion KRW to pay 3 million KRW per month for three months. The Ministry of Health and Welfare's emergency welfare project also has a budget of 350.9 billion KRW, of which 348.7 billion KRW is support funds and 2.2 billion KRW is personnel expenses for support staff employment.

Additionally, the Ministry of Employment and Labor's youth job-seeking activity support fund is a one-time project paying 500,000 KRW to 200,000 youths, but it includes hiring 360 personnel and allocating a budget to pay 2.36 million KRW per month for two months to manage this. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups' small business support fund project also included 3,303 short-term jobs lasting three months to pay up to 2 million KRW to small business owners. Personnel expenses, infrastructure construction, and publicity costs total 28 billion KRW.

Representative Choo stated, "It is desirable to quickly provide support by utilizing existing support organizations and systems," expressing his intention to cut the entire amount. He argued that increasing management personnel inevitably consumes time for hiring and system construction, which contradicts the government and ruling party's stance of payment before Chuseok.

Instead of wasteful budget cuts, Representative Choo announced plans to ▲ convert 11 million paid flu vaccinations to free (net increase of 110 billion to 150 billion KRW) ▲ expand the special child care allowance of 200,000 KRW to high school students (increase of 541.1 billion KRW) ▲ provide disaster relief funds to corporate taxi workers.

Representative Choo added, "I will strongly urge the government side to establish comprehensive measures to minimize fairness issues and do my best to make the supplementary budget practically effective."

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