Mokpo City Requests Government to Extend Employment Crisis Area Designation

Proposal for Solutions to Address Labor Shortage in Shipbuilding Industry with Jeonnam Province, Yeongam County, Haenam County, and Shipbuilding Companies

Jeonnam Province, Mokpo City, and Yeongam County propose measures to resolve labor shortages in the shipbuilding industry and request the government to extend the designation of employment crisis areas. Photo by Mokpo City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jeong Seunghyun] Mokpo City, Jeollanam-do announced on the 14th that it has requested the government to extend the designation of the employment crisis area.

On the 13th, the city participated in the ‘13th Jeonnam Shipbuilding and Maritime Workers' Day’ event held at Mokpo National University’s New Marine Industrial Complex Campus, and jointly petitioned the government along with Jeollanam-do, Yeongam County, Haenam County, and shipbuilding companies to resolve the shortage of manpower in the shipbuilding industry.

This petition was adopted to address the urgent need to secure skilled workers due to the recent increase in ship orders at shipyards in the province, while overcoming the difficulties in supply and demand caused by large-scale workforce adjustments during the shipbuilding recession.

The participating organizations and companies requested the extension of the special employment support industry designation for shipbuilding and the employment crisis area designation until December next year, as the current designations are set to expire at the end of December this year, to secure skilled shipbuilding manpower, stabilize employment, and secure job projects.

Additionally, since it is difficult to guarantee the minimum living expenses (1.46 million KRW for a family of four) during the shipbuilding training period, which causes difficulties in recruiting trainees, they requested to increase the current training allowance from 400,000 KRW to 800,000 KRW.

Furthermore, due to restrictions on foreign workers’ entry amid the COVID-19 situation and frequent turnover of foreign personnel, which have exacerbated difficulties, they proposed expanding the E-7 visa for foreign manpower and easing the introduction procedures.

They also requested the upgrade of the Mokpo branch office of the Gwangju Immigration and Foreigners Office. Unlike other branch offices, the Mokpo branch covers island areas, resulting in a wide jurisdiction and a large number of registered foreigners relative to the number of staff, causing severe backlog in civil service work.

Lastly, to transition to an eco-friendly shipbuilding industry and offshore wind power industry value chain, they requested the designation of large-scale industrial complex renovation projects for Daebul Industrial Complex and Sapjin Industrial Complex.

A city official stated, “Since the shipbuilding and maritime industries are key industries supporting the economy of the Southwest region, we will continuously unite our earnest intentions and petition the government.”

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