Pohang City Launches Youth-Led Policy Initiatives ... Youth Policies Decide the Future

142 Billion Won Invested for '2023 Action Plan' Implementation

New Dedicated Department Established, Policy Development and Job Linkage

Comprehensive Measures for Employment, Housing, Education, Welfare, and Culture

Pohang City is promoting the ‘2023 Pohang City Youth Policy Implementation Plan’ in four major areas?jobs, housing and education, welfare and culture, communication and participation?by securing a youth-tailored budget of 14.2 billion KRW under the vision of ‘A Greater Pohang Made Together with Youth.’

Dream Tree Center. (Pohang Youth Center, Youth Startup Platform)

To this end, the city established the Youth Employment Division, a dedicated department for youth policy, through an organizational restructuring in January. This year is set as the practical first year for advancing youth policies, with active efforts underway to discover related policies and establish a foundation for self-reliance through job linkage.

First, to support stable employment for youth, the city is investing 7.45 billion KRW in 32 projects including ▲expanding youth jobs and strengthening employment capabilities ▲activating and solidifying youth startups ▲creating a workplace culture where youth want to work. For youth housing and education, 4 billion KRW is allocated to 10 projects such as ▲expanding youth housing supply and alleviating housing cost burdens ▲supporting youth career paths linking education and jobs ▲promoting region-customized youth talent development.

Additionally, for youth welfare and culture, 2.7 billion KRW is allocated to 7 projects including ▲supporting welfare benefits for youth self-reliance ▲supporting the lives of youth who enjoy culture. To broaden youth communication and participation, 50 million KRW is budgeted for 5 projects such as ▲expanding youth leadership in policy decision-making ▲strengthening youth activities and communication through youth space utilization ▲expanding youth participation in local communities.

The city plans to kick-start the ‘engine’ of youth-led policy promotion to ensure smooth implementation of these youth support projects.

Centered on the Pohang City Youth Policy Coordination Committee, the city is building a diverse youth network including local youth organizations, regional universities, and youth policy experts to create a youth participation governance environment that enables active youth policy involvement. Through this, the city aims to enhance policy effectiveness and focus on establishing and promoting youth demand-tailored policies by holding youth policy forums and youth policy meetings.

Furthermore, recognizing the need to discover a wide range of Pohang-style youth policies such as youth jobs, the city plans to support youth employment comprehensively by discovering youth jobs in future new industries and region-specialized fields like secondary batteries, bio, and hydrogen, creating youth jobs through government-industry-academia collaboration, and fostering a youth startup ecosystem.

Along with this, the city is fully committed to creating a cultural environment desired by youth and providing comprehensive support for youth housing stability and self-reliance to promote youth settlement in the region and attract youth from other areas, thereby building a young city, Pohang. The city also plans to accelerate projects in each sector by further strengthening the legal and institutional foundation, including enacting and revising support laws for youth policy promotion.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok said, “For the youth who will be responsible for Pohang’s future, we will continuously discover youth-led policies that resonate with and satisfy youth, and spare no effort to provide various support so that youth can realize the future they dream of in Pohang.”

Pohang City has shown results such as a 3.8% increase in youth employment rate in the second half of 2022 compared to the same period the previous year, following a sharp decline after COVID-19, through support projects including Pohang-style youth job support responding to internal and external economic crises, youth startup support, and operation of youth startup LAB and youth startup platform.

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