Seocho-gu Hosts 'Youth Basic Income Policy Experiment Open Forum'

On the 18th at 6:30 PM, an 'Open Forum' will be held in the 5th-floor conference room of Seocho District Office... Opening with a mini-lecture by expert Dr. Kim Seung-yeon from Seoul Institute, creating an open discussion space with youth

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Seocho-gu (Mayor Eunhee Cho) will hold an open forum on the Youth Basic Income Policy Experiment at 6:30 PM on the 18th in the large conference room on the 5th floor of the district office.

This forum is the second public discussion following the first expert forum (October 15) aimed at the successful implementation of the Youth Basic Income Policy Experiment.

It was organized as a forum to directly hear the voices of youth regarding the Youth Basic Income Policy Experiment, gather their opinions, and seek policy directions that resonate with young people.

Due to COVID-19, only a minimal number of participants attended in person, and pre-registration was conducted online through platforms targeting youth (OnOffMix, a meeting culture platform).

The second deliberation process for the successful implementation of the Youth Basic Income Policy Experiment will be conducted over 90 minutes, consisting of ▲an expert mini-lecture ▲presentations by two youth representatives ▲and an open talk concert with the audience.

First, Dr. Seung-yeon Kim from the Urban Society Research Division at the Seoul Institute, who has extensive research experience and case studies in designing youth basic income policy experiments, will give a lecture titled “Seocho-gu Youth Basic Income, Why a Policy Experiment?”

Following this, in the designated discussion, two youth representatives, the main actors of the policy, will present on the topics.

Researcher Seon-gi Kim from the Sinchon Cultural Politics Research Group will present on “How Should Youth Policy Connect Youth and Society?” and graduate student Min-seo Cho (PhD candidate in Sociology) will present on “The Encounter Between Youth and Basic Income: Why and How?”

After the expert lecture and thematic presentations, there will be a lively free discussion with the attending youth about why the Youth Basic Income Policy Experiment is necessary, opinions on the introduction of youth basic income, and directions for the policy experiment’s implementation.

The district’s ongoing “Youth Basic Income Policy Experiment” randomly selects 1,000 youth aged 24 to 29 regardless of assets or educational background, providing 300 youth (the treatment group) with an amount equivalent to the living allowance for single-person households, while the remaining 700 (the control group) receive the usual participation allowance, and compares and analyzes the results over two years.

This is the first domestic case of a preliminary feasibility verification to assess the effectiveness of basic income on employment and job-seeking activities, dating and marriage, whether it was used for productive expenses or merely consumptive spending.

Seocho-gu Mayor Eunhee Cho said, “If a policy involves significant budget and administrative effort, more meticulous and thorough verification must be conducted in advance,” adding, “The Youth Basic Income Policy Experiment to be implemented in Seocho-gu next year will be an opportunity to change the paradigm of social policy.”

She also stated, “We will make this forum a valuable time to explore successful policy experiment directions with the youth, the main actors of the policy, so that the results and empirical data from the policy experiment can serve as meaningful policy evidence for other local governments and institutions in the future.”

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