Gwangju City Promotes Life Redesign Support Project for Middle-Aged and Older Adults

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 21st that it will promote the ‘2021 Middle-aged Life Redesign Support Project’ to support reemployment and social activities for middle-aged people (aged 45-64) who have faced early retirement or retirement.

Currently, the middle-aged population in the area accounts for about 31% of the total population of Gwangju City, and they are experiencing triple hardships including supporting parents, raising children, and employment instability due to COVID-19.

Accordingly, Gwangju City has prepared the ‘2021 Middle-aged Life Redesign Support Plan,’ which includes region-led job projects and new middle-aged social contribution activity support projects tailored to local characteristics, aiming for active social participation and income support in line with the changing labor age perception of middle-aged people who wish to work and participate in society until around age 70.

The 2021 Middle-aged Life Redesign Support Plan consists of 14 projects in three areas: ▲activation of jobs and social participation ▲creation of customized education and training environments for demanders ▲establishment of support infrastructure for middle-aged life redesign, with a total investment of 2.808 billion KRW.

In particular, to activate jobs and social participation, about 500 socially contributive jobs with strong public interest will be supported by linking public and private partners, and job interview weeks linked with job fairs promoted by related organizations, as well as projects to revitalize employment and start-up communities that can be connected to start-ups such as cooperatives and social enterprises, will be implemented.

Among these, the ‘Bitgoeul 50+ Jobs’ project is a region-led job project that discovers and operates new jobs in line with regional policy directions. It is expected to contribute to the qualitative improvement of welfare services by linking jobs in various fields requiring social services, such as operating visiting financial counseling offices, accompanying women on late-night walks home, and operating the Daga-chi resource circulation supporters group.

The creation of customized education and training environments for demanders is necessary because retired middle-aged people need lifelong learning for a rich old age, third-life planning, and continuous self-development. Therefore, various programs for middle-aged people will be opened in cooperation with specialized educational institutions such as Gwangju Lifelong Education Center and the Korea Labor & Society Development Foundation, and life redesign education such as career development courses will be strengthened and promoted.

Also, as an infrastructure establishment project, a total of 600 million KRW, including special grants secured through the 2019 Ministry of the Interior and Safety public contest project, will be invested to open the Bitgoeul 50+ Center in August. The center will serve as a network hub among related institutions in the region and will develop and distribute diverse and effective content such as work, learning, leisure, welfare, and information provision.

Park Hyang, Director of the Welfare and Health Bureau of the city, said, “In the era of 100 years of life, income activities are needed for a considerable period even after retirement from main jobs, but the loss of social and economic roles of middle-aged people is emerging as a new social problem beyond families,” and added, “Considering that jobs are the best welfare and old-age measure for middle-aged people, we will do our best to create jobs and support life redesign for the middle-aged.”

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