[2023 Budget] Ministry of Employment's 35 Trillion Won Budget for Next Year... Advanced Industry Talent Development, Labor Reform Support

4.3% Decrease Compared to This Year's Original Budget... Expenditure Efficiency Improvement

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The Ministry of Employment and Labor's budget for next year has been set at approximately 35 trillion won. This is a 4.3% reduction compared to this year's main budget. The ministry plans to use the savings from expenditure efficiency to support sectors vulnerable to industrial accidents, strengthen the employment safety net, and build a fair labor market based on labor-management coexistence.

According to the government on the 30th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor's budget proposal for next year is set at 34.9923 trillion won. The general and special accounts amount to 6.6646 trillion won, a decrease of 434.7 billion won (6.1%) compared to this year, while funds total 28.3277 trillion won, down by 1.145 trillion won (3.9%).

The ministry's budget increased from 30.5 trillion won in 2020 to 35.6 trillion won last year and 36.6 trillion won this year, but it has been reduced again to around 35 trillion won for next year.

The ministry has set key investment targets for next year as ▲ nurturing talent in advanced fields and upgrading employment services ▲ strengthening the employment safety net and tailored support by target groups ▲ enhancing support focused on sectors vulnerable to industrial accidents ▲ and building a fair labor market based on labor-management coexistence.

First, the ministry will invest 416.3 billion won next year to train 36,000 digital core practical talents. It will also expand the Polytech semiconductor department and advanced industry joint training centers to resolve job mismatches between hiring companies and job seekers.

The budget for projects that develop and provide training courses tailored to the characteristics and capabilities of individual companies, supporting necessary training costs, instructors, and consulting, will increase from 8.2 billion won this year to 13.4 billion won next year.

357 billion won will be invested to introduce the 'Corporate Vocational Training Card,' which supports training programs necessary to improve the job skills of workers in small and medium-sized enterprises.

The regional innovation project, which links central government job projects to resolve recruitment difficulties according to regional and industrial characteristics, has been allocated 65 billion won, more than double this year's amount.

(Data provided by the Ministry of Employment and Labor)

The budget to eliminate blind spots in social insurance is set at 1.0764 trillion won for next year. Support for social insurance premiums for low-income workers in micro-enterprises with fewer than 10 employees will be expanded from monthly wages under 2.3 million won to under 2.6 million won.

Also, social insurance premium support, which had so far only applied to special types of workers (STWs) and artists in workplaces with fewer than 10 employees, will be expanded to all STWs and artists starting next year.

The budget for the National Employment Support System will be reduced from 1.4965 trillion won to 1.2272 trillion won next year. The job-seeking promotion allowance, which pays 500,000 won per person, will provide an additional 100,000 won per person if there are dependent family members such as elderly parents or minors starting next year. The early reemployment allowance condition will change from '500,000 won paid if employed within 2 months' to '50% of the remaining allowance paid (500,000 to 1.25 million won) if employed within 3 months.'

Practical support for working parents will also be expanded. The budget for reduced working hours allowance during childcare will increase from 41.7 billion won (8,000 people) to 93.7 billion won (18,000 people), and the childcare leave allowance budget will expand from 1.5807 trillion won (128,000 people) to 1.6964 trillion won (132,000 people).

The government has also allocated a large budget to prepare policy measures to reduce industrial accidents. Support for creating clean workplaces that improve workplace risk factors will receive 507 billion won, more than 50 billion won more than this year, and 9.9 billion won will be invested in the win-win cooperation program between primary and subcontractors.

Additionally, the scope of support for work environment measurement costs and special health examination costs will be expanded from workplaces with fewer than 30 employees to those with fewer than 50 employees, and one worker health center and one occupational trauma center will be added to prevent work-related accidents and diseases.

Consulting for establishing safety and health management systems for workplaces with fewer than 50 employees will also increase from 2,000 workplaces this year to 16,000 workplaces next year.

Furthermore, the government has expanded the budget to support companies in rationally reforming wage and working hour systems.

24.3 billion won has been allocated to build a Korean-style job-specific market wage information system and conduct industry-specific market wage surveys to expand the infrastructure for win-win wages, and the consulting budget to help companies independently introduce rational wage and working hour systems tailored to their business characteristics has been increased to 28 billion won.

In addition, projects to establish basic labor order on the ground, such as free counseling and rights relief services for youth labor rights violations, written labor contract conclusion, and prevention of wage arrears, will also be expanded.

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