Seoul City Provides 500,000 Won 'Temporary Employment Support Fund' to Corporate Taxi Drivers

Support of 500,000 KRW per person for corporate taxi drivers facing job insecurity... 20,338 drivers from 255 companies targeted

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government will provide temporary employment support funds to corporate taxi drivers who have been suffering from prolonged job insecurity due to the spread of the COVID-19 infectious disease. Given the difficulties such as the decrease in taxi drivers caused by the worsening business conditions in the industry due to COVID-19, the plan is to focus on support for corporate taxi drivers facing employment and livelihood difficulties.

On the 19th, Seoul announced that as part of the comprehensive livelihood protection measures, it will promote support worth 500,000 KRW per person, totaling 10.5 billion KRW, for corporate taxi drivers struggling due to COVID-19. The support targets approximately 20,000 corporate taxi drivers experiencing severe business difficulties and job insecurity.

The Seoul taxi transportation industry has been experiencing serious business difficulties and financial distress for about two years due to the spread of COVID-19. In particular, there has been a decrease of 830 billion KRW in transportation revenue, a reduction of 9,400 corporate taxi drivers, and a record low operation rate of 33%, making support measures essential to continue providing transportation services.

Due to the implementation of social distancing measures following the spread of COVID-19, the number of taxi passengers has significantly decreased. The annual number of taxi rides has declined from 376 million in 2019 before the outbreak to 286 million in 2020 and 274 million in 2021.

Accordingly, Seoul plans to expedite the disbursement of support funds to corporate taxi drivers directly facing difficulties by paying the funds by the 28th, before the Lunar New Year. The application period is from the 21st to the 25th, and applicants must submit an application form and supporting documents to their affiliated taxi company. The support funds will be paid individually to the corporate taxi drivers’ accounts.

In particular, to align with the purpose of supporting livelihood recovery in the transportation sector, the minimum length of service requirement has been significantly relaxed to one month so that as many transportation workers as possible, including new hires, can receive the support funds. Therefore, any corporate taxi driver who has worked for one month or more as of the announcement date, the 21st, is eligible.

Seoul has prepared several financial support measures during the COVID-19 period, including support for card payment fees and communication fees, installation support for partitions in corporate taxis, and the establishment of a 112 automatic reporting system for taxi driver safety, among various other improvements.

Baek Ho, Director of the Urban Transportation Office, said, “The operation rate of corporate taxis, which was over 50%, has sharply dropped to around 33% due to the impact of COVID-19, worsening the management of taxi companies,” and added, “We will do our utmost to promptly provide this employment stability support fund to alleviate the difficulties of corporate taxi drivers.”

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