Starbucks Signs 'Youth Employment Support Project' Business Agreement with Ministry of Employment and Labor

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Starbucks Coffee Korea held a business agreement ceremony on the 27th at the Starbucks Sogong Academy to pledge continuous cooperation with the Ministry of Employment and Labor for the ‘Youth Employment Support Project’ and was certified as the 9th ‘Youth Employment Support Membership Company.’

The ‘Youth Employment Support Project’ is a project that promotes various programs to support youth employment by providing opportunities needed by young people, such as work experience support and job competency enhancement, led by companies based on cooperative relationships between the government and companies.

Through the ‘Youth Employment Support Project,’ Starbucks plans to actively support young people by providing various coffee knowledge and useful practical courses to enhance their competitiveness before entering society.

This agreement aims to support youth employment through mutual cooperation, where Starbucks operates various programs to improve young people’s job competencies for the ‘Youth Employment Support Project,’ and the Ministry of Employment and Labor actively supports the smooth implementation of these programs.

First, Starbucks will establish a barista training course for young job seekers in connection with the National Employment Support System’s work experience program. The recruitment target is young people aged 18 to 34 with a median income of 120% or less participating in the National Employment Support System. The pilot operation will start in November this year with 40 trainees, and next year, it will be expanded to 200 trainees with 50 per quarter for full-scale education.

The ‘Barista Work Experience Training Course’ will be taught entirely by a professional in-house instructor who trains Starbucks baristas. The course consists of 72 hours over 4 weeks, including lectures on coffee knowledge and trends, coffee extraction practice, and store tours, sharing comprehensive coffee knowledge, increasing understanding of the barista profession, and helping improve practical job competencies.

Starbucks plans to open the 12th talent donation caf? within the year in cooperation with the Ministry of Employment and Labor to support remodeling and coffee education for caf?s operated by youth, thereby supporting youth job creation. Starbucks’ talent donation caf?s are representative social contribution activities where Starbucks remodels deteriorated caf? facilities in local communities staffed by youth, seniors, and multicultural families and imparts store operation know-how. Currently, 11 talent donation caf?s are operating nationwide, helping vulnerable groups in local communities achieve independence and create employment.

Additionally, Starbucks will actively promote youth employment support activities by posting information about the ‘Youth Employment Support Project’ on community boards in Starbucks stores that share various local community news and by providing tumblers.

At the agreement ceremony, Song Hoseop, CEO of Starbucks Coffee Korea; Ahn Kyung-duk, Minister of Employment and Labor; Lee Dong-geun, Vice Chairman of the Korea Employers Federation; and Kwon Soon-won, Head of the Youth Employment Expert Support Group (Professor at Sookmyung Women’s University) attended. Before the business agreement ceremony, they toured the Starbucks Academy training center where future youth barista education will take place and visited the beverage and food development room where menu development is conducted.

Song Hoseop, CEO of Starbucks Coffee Korea, said, “We will take the lead in helping young people, who will be the future of our society, design new dreams and career paths.” He added, “We will continue to do our best to support youth and local communities.”

Minister Ahn Kyung-duk of the Ministry of Employment and Labor stated, “Starbucks actively supports the employment of vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities and women with career interruptions, and I am very grateful that through today’s agreement ceremony, we will also work together to revitalize youth employment.”

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