Ministry of Employment Budget 36.5 Trillion Won... Focus on 'Youth Employment' Next Year as Well

14 Million Youth Facing Employment Difficulties to Receive Leap Incentive Payment

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government has decided to allocate a significant budget for youth employment support again next year. A new policy has been established to provide subsidies to companies that hire young people struggling to find jobs. This decision was made based on the judgment that increasing youth employment, who are both vulnerable to employment and the driving force of the national economy, is most important amid prolonged growth without employment. However, there are also criticisms that this policy has not escaped from being a de facto cash-type wage subsidy.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 3rd that out of the 607.7 trillion won budget approved by the National Assembly for next year, its jurisdictional budget is 36.572 trillion won. This is 2.6% (923.4 billion won) more than this year (35.6487 trillion won). It increased by 66.7 billion won compared to the government proposal. During the National Assembly review process, 128.1 billion won was added for low-income workers' livelihood stabilization, industrial accident prevention, and new technology workforce training, while 61.4 billion won was cut from projects such as the Tomorrow Learning Card and employment creation incentives.

Notably, a new budget of 500 billion won was established for the 'Youth Job Leap Incentive.' This policy supports companies hiring 140,000 young people facing employment difficulties by providing 800,000 won per month for one year. It is a wage subsidy policy similar to the Youth Digital Job Project, which supports a certain amount for small and medium enterprises hiring young people in information technology (IT) roles. There are criticisms that this policy has limitations as it stimulates corporate hiring through financial support without fundamental system improvements such as employment flexibility.

To respond to the rapidly increasing demand for digital talent due to industrial structural changes, the budget for vocational skill development increased from 2.4 trillion won this year to 2.6 trillion won next year. The budget allocated for the National Employment Support System, which supports the employment of 600,000 low-income job seekers and others, is 1.5 trillion won next year. The budget for industrial accident prevention is set at 1.1 trillion won. The Ministry of Employment plans to assist in replacing dangerous machinery and equipment in small and medium-sized workplaces and support major accident prevention devices in the manufacturing and construction sectors.

Meanwhile, the employment retention subsidy, which saw a significant increase in spending during this year's COVID-19 response, will decrease from 1.4 trillion won this year to 600 billion won next year.

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