Yoon Administration to Hire More Than Triple the Number of Youth Advisors on Fixed-Term Contracts

Number of Youth Aides Selected Increases from 9 to 33
Number of Hiring Departments Rises from 15 to 24
Status Changes from Special Appointment to Professional Term Public Officials

This year, 24 central government ministries will recruit 33 youth advisors. This is an increase of 24 from the previous 9. The number of recruiting ministries has also increased to 15 institutions, selecting candidates from a total of 24 ministries. Their status will change from special appointment public officials to professional fixed-term public officials with a set term.

According to the Office for Government Policy Coordination under the Prime Minister's Office on the 7th, the ‘Youth Advisor and 2030 Advisory Group System’ will be expanded to all ministerial-level central administrative agencies. The target age group is youth aged 19 to 34. Youth advisors are affiliated with the minister’s office and communicate frequently with the minister from the perspective of the youth themselves. They are responsible for reflecting the perceptions of the younger generation on the overall policies of their affiliated institutions.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is speaking at a reform meeting on labor, education, and pensions with about 200 young people held at the Blue House Reception Hall on the 20th.

They also attend executive meetings to communicate with officials before policy announcements. To broaden the base of youth perceptions, the government has decided to change the employment type of youth advisors from special appointment to professional fixed-term public officials with a fixed term. The special appointment system automatically dismisses youth advisors when the head of the institution retires, making long-term participation in policy tasks difficult.

To promptly expand the Youth Advisor and 2030 Advisory Group system, the government plans to distribute the ‘Guidelines for the Expansion and Operation of Youth Advisors and 2030 Advisory Groups’ to all 24 ministerial-level central administrative agencies within this month. Detailed eligibility requirements will be decided by each recruiting institution, and recruitment announcements for youth advisors in 24 institutions will be made. In the 15 newly operating institutions, a 2030 Advisory Group of 20 or more members will also be formed by each ministry.

Considering the characteristics and budget situations of the institutions, the government will increase the number of youth advisors in pilot institutions from one to two each. The 15 newly operating institutions will each recruit one youth advisor. An official from the Office for Government Policy Coordination stated, “This initiative is being promoted based on the judgment that it is necessary to reflect the perceptions and demands of youth in the policy process.”

According to the Office for Government Policy Coordination, youth advisors have so far planned policy meetings and proposed policy tasks. Examples include dialogues between the Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and future generations (Ministry of Economy and Finance), education reform meetings (Ministry of Education), policy meetings addressing low birth rates, National Pension talk concerts (Ministry of Health and Welfare), and youth leap account meetings (Financial Services Commission). They have also promoted central ministry advisor-local government youth policy meetings to hear proposals from local youth (Ministry of the Interior and Safety). Youth advisors and 2030 advisory groups have directly proposed new policy tasks such as the ‘Top 10 Youth Cultural Policies’ (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), ‘Four Pillars of Youth Policy for Tomorrow’ (Ministry of Employment and Labor), and ‘Top 10 Youth Startup Tasks’ (Ministry of SMEs and Startups).

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