Support from Employment to Housing to Marriage... Gumi City Progressing Steadily in Creating a Youth Special City

Promoting Youth Support Programs Effective Throughout Their Entire Lives

Expanding New Projects Reflecting Changing Youth Culture

Gumi City in Gyeongbuk is dedicated to creating a ‘City Where Youth Are Happy’ by taking full responsibility from employment to housing so that young people who grew up in Gumi can settle down and start families in the city.

Especially this year marks the launch of the Population and Youth Division, making it the inaugural year for youth advancement. The city is focusing all efforts on implementing effective youth policies centered on population perspectives.

In February, Gumi City presented the ‘Gumi City SE7EN UP Youth Policy’ as a youth advancement task for the city’s reinvention, and has embarked on strengthening the foundation for youth settlement in the region through various youth projects spanning employment, housing, and marriage.

The ‘Gumi City SE7EN UP Youth Policy’ is a youth-led Gumi reinvention and youth advancement policy composed of three major areas, seven tasks, and 68 projects.

▲ Life Cycle Support ① Employment (Jobs) ② Startups (Youth Entrepreneurship) ③ Studies (Education, Academics)

▲ Strengthening Activity Infrastructure ④ Cheer Up (Culture & Leisure) ⑤ Build Up (Housing & Finance) ⑥ What’s Up (Youth Spaces & Communities)

▲ Expanding Policy Participation ⑦ Collaboration (Youth Policy Participation Groups, etc.)

First, for students who graduated from high schools and universities in Gumi, the city guarantees employment at local companies and is establishing a system to timely provide excellent young talent to local companies facing labor shortages.

In connection with Gyeongbuk Province’s ‘U-City Project,’ Meister high schools such as Geumoh Technical High School and Gumi Electronics Technical High School are being matched with local universities and regional strategic industries, preparing an educational system to secure customized manpower needed by companies.

Additionally, the ongoing ▲1 Company-1 Youth Additional Employment Support Project will be expanded to support youth, including high school students, in obtaining certifications and interview activity expenses. The city also plans to contribute to resolving chronic job mismatches through employment programs jointly conducted by companies and universities.

To ease the burden of new youth hires for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Gumi has secured one more ‘Ministry of the Interior and Safety Regional-Led Youth Job Project’ this year, totaling five projects that support labor costs and regional settlement incentives for youth workers at 71 SMEs. Through the ‘SME Regular Employee Project,’ a foundation has been laid for over 140 employment-vulnerable groups, including youth, to transition from internships to regular employment.

‘Ministry of the Interior and Safety Regional-Led Youth Job Project’ provides up to two years of labor costs (monthly 1.6 to 1.8 million KRW) and youth incentives (monthly 100,000 to 250,000 KRW).

‘SME Regular Employee Project’ offers labor costs (monthly 1.5 million KRW twice) and support for youth converted to regular employees (monthly 1.5 million KRW twice).

Alongside employment support, startup support projects are actively promoted to allow young people brimming with new ideas to freely realize their dreams.

Startup Lab Equipment Utilization Training.

▲ Youth Startup LAB and Makerspace provide specialized education to commercialize ideas and offer opportunities to use expensive equipment for prototype production. Through ▲ Youth Startup Support Projects and ▲ Youth Startup Regional Settlement Support Projects, prospective young entrepreneurs receive support from commercialization funds to mentoring, passionately nurturing youth CEOs who will enrich Gumi with their brilliant ideas.

The city is also actively addressing housing issues, which young people identify as the primary cause of low birth rates.

The ▲ Youth Monthly Rent Support Project, implemented since last year, supports up to 200,000 KRW per month in rent for over 1,200 homeless youth as of now (535 in December 2022), ranking among the top nationwide (2nd in the province, 11th nationwide as of May 2023).

To prevent a gap in housing support after the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Youth Monthly Rent Special Support Project ends, the city plans to allocate its own budget next year to expand the Youth Monthly Rent Support Project.

Additionally, in the second half of this year, new projects such as ▲ Youth Jeonse Deposit Return Guarantee Fee Support Project and ▲ Jeonse/Monthly Rent Deposit Loan Interest Support Project will be launched to alleviate housing burdens for youth through various measures.

Support projects for stable youth independence and marriage encouragement will also be expanded.

▲ The Youth Worker Asset Building Project supports asset formation for unmarried young workers, and ▲ Youth & Newlywed Happy Housing and ▲ Multi-child e-Card benefits will be expanded.

The recently spotlighted ▲ Marriage Encouragement Fund Support Project is currently under consultation with Gyeongbuk Province and is expected to contribute to establishing a foundation for youth to settle in the region after employment.

New support projects reflecting changing youth culture and times will also be operated.

▲ Dream Connection Youth Cafe Support Project (a new pilot project by Gyeongbuk Province) provides youth community activity spaces using local cafes, and ▲ Youth Challenge Support Project (a Ministry of Employment and Labor public project) helps socially withdrawn youth participate in society. These projects received numerous inquiries and attracted significant interest from youth even before their launch.

Especially, the Youth Challenge Support Project, buoyed by high application rates and positive responses from participating youth, plans to secure additional national and other funding to expand in the second half of the year.

The city will continue to sensitively respond to government and Gyeongbuk Province youth policy directions, boldly attracting new projects that practically help youth and discovering its own projects.

Along with the Youth Policy Participation Group, which will be significantly expanded to about 100 members, the city plans to actively incorporate youth opinions from the early stages of projects such as the Youth Activity Support Center and Youth Startup Fund to enhance the tangible impact of youth policies.

Mayor Kim Jang-ho said, “We will establish life cycle youth support policies from studies to employment, housing, and marriage so that young people can find jobs at local companies and build a virtuous cycle where companies and Gumi grow together.” He added, “Gumi City will secure the population core by implementing strong youth policies that share the burden at every important moment in life.”

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