Ministry of SMEs Extends 'Youth Tomorrow Filling Deduction' Sunset Deadline by 1 Year... Additional Support for 20,000 People

[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 26th that starting from the 3rd of next month, it will implement enrollment for the ‘Youth Employee Tomorrow Filling Deduction,’ a program where the government and small businesses jointly contribute funds and pay 30 million KRW to young workers upon maturity after 5 years.

The Youth Employee Tomorrow Filling Deduction was newly established in 2018 as a temporary project under the youth job policy to promote youth employment in small businesses and was scheduled to end this year. However, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups decided to extend the sunset deadline by one year to help young workers facing economic difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic accumulate a lump sum and to alleviate manpower shortages in small businesses. An additional 20,000 people will be supported until the end of next year.

The Youth Employee Tomorrow Filling Deduction is regarded as having been established as a new performance reward system for small businesses. According to the Ministry, up to now, 133,851 workers from 46,061 companies have enrolled in the Youth Employee Tomorrow Filling Deduction. For the Tomorrow Filling Deduction, which has no age or work experience restrictions, 69,627 workers from 27,365 companies have enrolled. The number of workers who have received the maturity payment has reached 6,600. The Ministry explained that the program has had effects such as long-term employment and wage increases for young workers, as well as increased work motivation among participants and improved corporate productivity.

In October this year, the ‘Linked Tomorrow Filling Deduction’ was also established. This system encourages long-term employment of young workers in small businesses by providing additional Tomorrow Filling Deduction support for 3 years after the maturity of the Youth Employee Tomorrow Filling Deduction. If companies and young workers each accumulate 5.04 million KRW by contributing 140,000 KRW monthly for 3 years, 10 million KRW will be paid out.

The Ministry plans to expand benefits starting next year, including free accident insurance enrollment for Tomorrow Filling Deduction participants. It will also strengthen welfare services by expanding collaboration models with local governments and public enterprises, and by providing free job training and welfare malls.

Won Youngjun, Director of Technology Innovation Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “Tomorrow Filling Deduction workers contribute to improving corporate productivity through long-term employment, accumulation of technical skills, and technology transfer. Additionally, companies utilize this as a useful performance reward system that fosters a virtuous cycle of growth together with excellent talent.”

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