'11.4 Million KRW Support Per Person' for Promising Companies Selected by Youth

Ministry of Employment and Labor Begins Accepting Applications for 'Future Youth Talent Development Project'
Same Wage Support Program, but "Different from Previous IT-Only Support"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] From now on, promising companies with high growth potential that hire youth aged 15 to 34 will receive up to 11.4 million KRW per person from the government.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 25th that it will start the "Future Youth Talent Development Project" with this content from the 26th. This is a temporary project for this year, with a general accounting budget of 92.4 billion KRW. The ministry judged that support is necessary because the youth expanded unemployment rate was as high as 22.7% as of last month.

Although this project is similar to previous wage support projects, considering that the existing support system was limited only to information technology (IT) jobs, it was deemed necessary to expand the support fields.

Source=Ministry of Employment and Labor

The core is to provide up to 11.4 million KRW per person for a total of up to 6 months (monthly wage 1.8 million KRW + monthly indirect labor cost 100,000 KRW). About 10,000 people will be supported. The project may close early depending on budget circumstances.

The support targets are about 80,000 companies recognized as "future promising companies" through 24 projects from 6 government ministries including the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, among small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-sized companies with at least one insured employee under employment insurance. The companies must have labor contracts of 3 months or longer with youth aged 15 to 34 and regular employees, pay at least the minimum wage, and be enrolled in the four major social insurances. Military service veterans can extend the youth age limit by the length of their mandatory service, making those up to 39 years old eligible.

Companies wishing to participate can apply by selecting one of the 35 entrusted operating institutions on the Future Youth Talent Development Project website. Approved companies must hire eligible youth within this year. After paying wages monthly, they apply for support funds to the operating institution, undergo eligibility screening, and then receive the support funds.

Kwon Changjun, Youth Employment Policy Officer at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, said, "We hope this project will be a stepping stone for overcoming the current youth employment crisis and for promising companies and youth to grow together," and added, "Since the support scale is limited, active participation from interested companies is necessary."

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