85% of Gyeonggi-do Youth Say "Youth Interview Allowance Is a Well-Executed Policy"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province announced that 85% of young people aged 18 to 39 in the province evaluated the 'Gyeonggi Province Youth Interview Allowance Project,' which has been providing up to 300,000 KRW annually in local currency as interview activity expenses since last year.

The province revealed on the 5th that this result came from a survey conducted from April 30 to May 31 among 1,466 young people aged 18 to 39 from the Gyeonggi Province online public opinion panel.

Among the 85% who responded "doing well," 35% said "doing very well." In contrast, only 5% responded "doing very poorly." Especially, among the 149 applicants for the Gyeonggi Province Youth Interview Allowance last year, 95% evaluated the project as "doing well."

When 1,245 respondents who gave positive evaluations were asked for reasons, the most cited was ▲reducing the financial burden of interview expenses for job seekers (54%). Following were ▲recognition and reward for the time and effort of job seekers (28%), ▲promotion of job-seeking activities for job seekers (14%), and ▲expansion of the culture of companies paying interview expenses (4%).

When asked if they intended to apply for the Gyeonggi Province Youth Interview Allowance, 89% responded "yes."

The province also investigated the actual conditions of job interviews among local youth. Among all respondents, 1,191 who had interview experience were asked about the number of interviews they had attended, with less than 5 times (56%) being the most common. More than 10 times accounted for 16% of the total.

Those with interview experience mainly covered their job preparation costs through part-time jobs or internships (45%) and family support such as allowances (44%). Government subsidies accounted for only 4%.

Some respondents (2%) even reported taking out loans.

The average expenditure per interview was less than 50,000 KRW for 50% of respondents. However, about half spent more than 50,000 KRW per interview, with ▲50,000 KRW to less than 100,000 KRW (32%), ▲100,000 KRW to less than 150,000 KRW (10%), ▲150,000 KRW to less than 200,000 KRW (4%), and ▲more than 200,000 KRW (4%).

The most burdensome expense items were clothing purchases such as suits and shoes (59%) and transportation costs (19%).

On the other hand, 59% of those with interview experience said they had never received interview expenses from the companies. An overwhelming 91% of interviewees supported the idea that companies should pay job interview expenses.

Among 328 respondents currently engaged in job seeking, the most common job-seeking period was less than six months (37%), but those seeking for more than two years accounted for 19% of the total (10% for 2 to less than 3 years, 9% for more than 3 years).

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung said, "I hope the Gyeonggi Province Youth Interview Allowance will be of some help to young people who feel more difficulties in finding jobs due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic," and added, "I hope the culture of paying interview expenses, which can provide opportunities to actively job-seeking youth, will expand nationwide."

Since June last year, Gyeonggi Province has been implementing the Youth Interview Allowance Project, providing up to 300,000 KRW (50,000 KRW per interview, up to 6 times) to young people aged 18 to 39 residing in the province to support interview expenses. This is to reduce the economic burden on young job seekers and promote job-seeking activities.

The support amount increased from a maximum of 210,000 KRW last year to 300,000 KRW this year. Detailed information can be found on the Gyeonggi Province Youth Interview Allowance website.

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