Seoul City Closes Applications for 'Hope Double Youth Account'... Lowering Barriers and Increasing Quotas

Applicants Increased by 27% Compared to Last Year, but Competition Rate Eased from 4.5:1 to 2.4:1

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 1st that the application for the ‘2021 Hope Double Youth Account’ closed with a final competition rate of 2.4 to 1, as 17,093 people applied for 7,000 spots. This is lower than the average competition rate of 4.8 to 1 over the past five years. Although the number of applicants increased by 27% (3,631 people) compared to last year, the competition rate decreased due to the expansion of the recruitment quota.

Seoul City explained that it significantly raised the income eligibility from a monthly income of 2.37 million won last year to 2.55 million won this year and expanded the number of recruits from 3,000 to 7,000, which helped reduce competition among applicants. The city changed the income requirements this year to reflect the high interest of young people in the Hope Double Youth Account and to provide more opportunities for participation amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

Seoul City will conduct income and property verification and document screening for applicant households until early November and finalize new beneficiaries on November 12. The selected youth account holders can start saving from November. Since the first recruitment of youth account holders in 2015, the first savings completion was recorded in 2017, and as the youth account program has become established, the number of savings completers has steadily increased.

Participants who consistently save 100,000 won or 150,000 won monthly from earned income for two or three years will receive double their savings amount plus interest upon maturity. They can also participate in various capacity-building programs that support successful independence, such as financial education, one-on-one financial consulting, and community support through 31 case management centers near their residence.

A 2019 performance analysis study of the Hope Double Youth Account conducted by the Seoul Welfare Foundation showed that the primary use of the accumulated funds was for housing expenses (62.3%), followed by education expenses such as student loan repayment and job training costs (20.4%), marriage preparation funds (12.6%), and small-scale startup funds (4.7%).

Meanwhile, the ‘Kkumnarae Account,’ which supports children’s education expenses, received 921 applications for 300 spots, recording a competition rate of 3 to 1. This is similar to last year’s competition rate of 3.2 to 1 and the average competition rate of 2.9 to 1 over the past five years.

The Kkumnarae Account is available to parents aged 18 or older with children aged 14 or younger, with eligibility based on 80% or less of the median income. To strengthen support for multi-child families, households with three or more children are eligible if their income is 90% or less of the median income. Among eligible applicants, selection is based on high scores considering residence period, income level, and urgency.

Park Tae-ju, Director of the Regional Care Welfare Division of Seoul City, said, “The Youth Account and Kkumnarae Account not only help participants build seed money but also create a foundation for their independence through the process of saving. Especially this year, we significantly increased the number of Youth Account recruits to help more young people struggling with prolonged COVID-19, low wages, and employment instability. We hope that through this, more young people in Seoul can overcome current difficulties and dream bigger with the Youth Account.”

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