Government to Train 413,000 Quality SW Talent Over 5 Years... "Three Times Industry Demand"

Industry "29,000 Shortage Over 5 Years"... Government "Train Additional 89,000"
Three Phases: Short-term, Mid-term, Infrastructure Expansion... Venture Job Fulfillment, University Collaboration, etc.

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Strategy and Finance. (Image source=Yonhap News)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government announced that it will nurture 413,000 software (SW) talents over five years to prepare for industrial restructuring and the era of 'growth without employment' after COVID-19. SW is considered a so-called 'quality job' that attracts young people's interest as a high-income information technology (IT) occupation, but the industry has been struggling with a shortage of workforce inflow compared to demand. The government's goal is to prepare for the employment crisis by nurturing more than three times the number of talents that the industry fears are lacking.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki, Minister of Science and ICT Lim Hye-sook, Minister of Employment and Labor Ahn Kyung-duk, and Director of Startup and Venture Innovation Office Cha Jeong-hoon of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups visited Code States, an SW talent development institution, at 2 p.m. on the 9th and announced this plan.

The core message is to nurture SW talents on a scale that exceeds industry concerns. According to this year's SW Policy Research Institute, the new workforce demand in the SW field over the next five years is 353,000, but only 324,000 are expected to be produced through universities and government projects. There is a shortage of 29,000. Accordingly, the government announced that it will increase the workforce to a total of 413,000 by nurturing 89,000, more than three times the shortage of 29,000, over five years until 2025. The plan is to nurture 110,000 through university and other educational courses, 214,000 through existing government talent development projects, and an additional 89,000.

Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "There is a time lag from education to talent entering the labor market, and due to a shortage of instructors and training institutions, there are limits to producing talents that companies want, so even though companies complain about talent shortages, young people have had difficulties finding jobs." He explained, "We decided to break away from the existing talent development framework centered on vocational training institutions and establish a new talent development model led by the private sector such as SMEs and venture companies, supported by the government."

Three Tracks: Short-term, Mid-term, Infrastructure

The government decided to implement policies in three stages: short-term, mid-term, and infrastructure expansion. First, in the short term, to respond to the workforce shortage in SMEs and venture companies, it will expand company-led short-term training courses and strengthen support for incumbent worker training. It will utilize existing youth job-seeking project budgets such as the Ministry of Employment and Labor's 'K-Digital Training (training cost support)', 'Youth Employment Special Incentive (wage support)', and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' 'Venture Company Competitiveness Enhancement Project (job seeker-company matching)'.

Customized job-seeking training will be provided under the leadership of leading companies in fields such as big data and gaming or the 17 regional human resources development committees nationwide. The committees consist of local industry, labor, local governments, employment centers, and universities. The on-site training support (S-OJT) program, which was only for short-term courses, will add long-term courses and significantly strengthen project-based job-seeking programs.

Strengthening Company-University Education Linkage

In the mid-term, the government will expand cooperation models between companies and universities and increase SW majors through schools. New projects such as 'Campus SW Academy (companies nurturing talents using university infrastructure)' and 'Network-type Campus SW Academy' (universities utilizing company training courses) will be promoted. In this process, the government will organize a pool of participating universities and support operating and education costs for university-company consortia.

The number of SW-focused universities will increase, and corporate-linked internship and field training will be strengthened. The goal is not only to increase university graduates majoring in SW but also to provide the 'specs' necessary for employment. The number of SW-focused universities will increase from the current 41 to 64 by 2025, adding 23 more. Existing practical talent development projects such as K-Digital Training, Innovation Academy, and SW Maestro will be expanded, and collaboration with companies will be strengthened. Current company employees will be deployed as instructors, and companies will participate in designing training courses to enhance linkage.

Career Management to Connect with Government Policies

The government will also focus on expanding long-term SW training infrastructure. Using the vocational training portal (HRD-Net), it will manage the performance of participants in cross-ministerial talent development projects, such as employment rates and employment retention rates. For example, by linking HRD-Net with employment and health insurance databases (DB), it will extract statistics on performance to help manage careers. Additionally, digital basic education and training will be supported for all citizens, including elementary and secondary students, job seekers, and military personnel.

To successfully implement the measures, the government has signed practical agreements with industry groups such as the Korea Venture Business Association, SW Industry Association, and Korea Startup Forum to cooperate mutually.

At the subsequent meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Hong and ministers and vice ministers from related ministries listened to field opinions on difficulties in recruiting SW talents for SMEs, deregulation of digital education, and support for career counseling personnel such as 'employment mentors.'

Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "Since SW new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and big data are core drivers of future new industries and innovative growth, actively investing in nurturing talents with SW new technologies is an investment in the nation's future." He added, "Through this private-led customized training, I hope that young people can strengthen their capabilities (skill up) to survive in the battlefield of employment and entrepreneurship and that the produced SW talents can help grow the entire industry, including the IT sector (scale up), supported by policies."

He continued, "We will continue to cooperate with related ministries so that customized SW talents reflecting industry demand can become a successful model of employment in quality jobs, and we will not spare interest and support."

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