Government to create more jobs for the elderly around the Lunar New Year holiday

The \'Korea Senior Citizens Job Fair 2023\' is held at the Mulbit Stage at Hangang Park in Yeouido, Seoul, on Oct. 26, last year. Kim Chang-gil Reporter

The government budgeted 29.2 trillion won for job creation projects this year. The amount decreased from last year as it was necessary to adjust the budget for the projects as the coronavirus pandemic ended, the government explained.

The government plans to implement the budget early by creating 700,000 direct jobs, including those for the elderly, before and after the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday. Some point out that the government, which was trying to reduce jobs for the elderly in 2022, conducted early execution of the budget with the aim of gaining public support ahead of the general election in April.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that it discussed the “direction to promote job creation projects in 2024" at an emergency meeting held on January 16. The job creation projects are policy projects to help stabilize employment and include public direct jobs, vocational training, and employment support.

This year's budget for job creation projects is 29.2 trillion won, down 1.1 trillion won (-3.8 percent) from 30.3 trillion won last year. The budget accounted for 4.4 percent of total government expenditure, down 0.3 percentage points from a year earlier (4.7 percent). The ministry said, "We focused on strengthening customized support for young people, women, and middle-aged people, expanding protection of the weak, and creating favorable conditions for job creation in the private sector while adjusting employment incentives that are sluggish in the payment under the framework of sound fiscal policy.”

The government said it will focus on projects related to the vulnerable, such as youth, women, the elderly, and the disabled. The ministry allocated 83.1 billion won for the operation of youth employment support infrastructure, more than double the previous year's budget of 40.7 billion. It also established a customized employment service for high school students and allocated 171.8 billion won for a youth work experience support project, an increase of 116.5 billion won from the previous year.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare's budget for elderly jobs was set at 2.26 trillion won, up from 1.54 trillion won the previous year. The Ministry of Employment and Labor’s continued employment incentive is 35 billion won, up 5.8 billion won from a year earlier. The budget for job support for the disabled increased by 15.4 billion won to 222.7 billion won, and the employment success package incentives for the disabled increased by 3.6 billion won to 24.6 billion won.

As the country’s demographic structure changes, the budget for maternity care and childcare support was set at 2.5 billion, up 396.2 billion from the previous year, and the employment stability incentive for childbirth and childcare period is 180.6 billion, up 45.1 billion. Also 3.7 billion won and 2.4 billion won were allocated for the budget for infertility treatment vacation pay and work-sharing subsidy for shortened work hours during the parenting period, respectively, which were newly created. The expansion of the period of parental leave and the reduction of working hours during the childcare period are included in the policies, but it may vary depending on whether the National Assembly revises the law.

To improve the dual structure of the labor market, the government has newly budgeted for the Win-Win Academy for Large and Small Enterprises (12.2 billion won), the Shipbuilding Employees' Hope Credit (10 billion won), a Package Support Project for Win-Win Agreements by Industry (14.8 billion won), and a Regional Dual Structure Improvement Project (4.1 billion won). However, labor circles point out that the government's “win-win” measures are ineffective because they rely on the goodwill of original contractors.

The government said it would implement the budget for job creation projects early up to 67.0 percent within the first half of the year. In particular, it will execute 90 percent of the direct job projects and create more than 700,000 jobs for the elderly before and after the Lunar New Year holiday.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.