Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, Draws Nationwide Attention for Labor Policies

Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 31st that its sustainable job special zone, city favorable for work, and other job, economy, and labor policies under the 8th local government have been attracting great attention from other local governments' labor-management-civil-government councils, leading to active learning exchanges.

According to Gwangsan-gu on the 31st, recently the Jeonju City Council and Jeonju Labor-Management-Civil-Government Council visited Gwangsan-gu to benchmark the creation of the "Sustainable Job Special Zone" and the establishment of the Labor Support Team.

The visit aimed to listen to the progress and future direction of Gwangsan-gu’s Sustainable Job Special Zone, which follows the Gwangju-type job model that became the starting point of job innovation in Korea, and to seek ways to ensure the success of the "Jeonju-type Job Project," a local government-led investment job initiative promoted by Jeonju City.

In this regard, Gwangsan-gu views jobs as the best solution to resolve complex social crises and risks such as polarization and inequality and to realize a sustainable society, and is promoting the "Sustainable Job Special Zone" to create quality jobs through social dialogue.

While the Gwangju-type job was a model established through a social grand compromise applied to a single company, the Sustainable Job Special Zone is a job innovation experiment targeting the entire region of Gwangsan-gu.

Centered on the dedicated department (Sustainable Growth Job Division), Gwangsan-gu is establishing a basic plan for the special zone through the operation of an advisory group involving experts and holding forums.

The Jeonju City Council and Labor-Management-Civil-Government Council expressed strong agreement with the basic direction of the Sustainable Job Special Zone, stating that “self-reliant efforts and social dialogue are necessary to create good jobs at the basic local government level,” and proposed exchanges for mutual development, including promoting cooperation among labor, management, civil, and government sectors.

Earlier this month, the Chungbuk Province Labor-Management-Civil-Government Council also visited Gwangsan-gu as an "advanced case of job policy," sharing the progress of the Sustainable Job Special Zone and exchanging various opinions.

The Labor Support Team, which is in charge of policies to enhance workers' rights under the banner of "a city good for working and good for business," also received much attention.

The Gwangsan-gu Labor Support Team is deeply analyzing the local employment and labor environment based on close communication and networks with economic actors in labor, management, civil, and government sectors, and is seeking improvement measures.

Park Byung-gyu, Mayor of Gwangsan-gu, stated, “The high interest in Gwangsan-gu’s job policies shows that many local governments nationwide recognize the importance of jobs to overcome complex and diverse social crises,” and added, “We will strengthen communication and exchanges with local governments across the country to make this an opportunity for the success and spread of our job innovation model.”

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Jo Ilsang bless4ya@asiae.co.kr

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