Seoul Provides a Record-high Budget for Job Creation

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will contribute a record-high 1 trillion won, the largest amount ever contributed by a municipal government of Seoul, with the goal of creating more than 320,000 jobs.

In order to address job-related problems threatening citizens’ livelihood, such as the youth unemployment rate soaring to 10.3% and the number of unemployed youths exceeding 100,000, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced the “2017 Seoul Comprehensive Job Plan” on Jan. 18th (Wed.). The Plan contains blueprints for expanding jobs specialized by sector as well as resolving the pervasive issue of youth unemployment.

Creation of a total of 323,116 jobs, an increase of 40,000 jobs compared to last year

This year, Seoul Metropolitan Government will provide 124,000 direct jobs and 199,000 indirect support jobs, a total of 323,116 jobs. The city will concentrate its efforts on creating and providing urban jobs, allocating a budget of approximately one trillion won. ‘Direct Jobs’ refers to jobs in which the employee is directly employed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and its’ related investment agencies, such as New Deal jobs, public employment, assistants for people with disabilities, and others. ‘Indirectly Supported Jobs’ refers to jobs that are indirectly supported by the SMG through employment subsidies, entrepreneurship support, vocational training, job placement, and other supportive measures.

<Current State of Job Provision by Sector>

“Youth Employment Plus Center” for Providing Comprehensive Youth Employment Services to open in February, 2017

In addition, the “Youth Employment Plus Center”, a facility providing a comprehensive and systematic solution for youth unemployment, will be opened in the center of the city in February.

The “Youth Employment Plus Center” is a control tower that provides comprehensive services related to youth employment and supervises youth employment support organizations, such as Job Cafés, all over Seoul. It serves as a hub for solving youth unemployment issues by managing youth employment support organizations throughout the city, providing comprehensive job information, nurturing professional counselors, offering close employment consultation, operating specialized programs, and providing free rental study rooms. The Youth Employment Plus Center is occupies 1,109㎡ (335 pyeong) on the 1st floor of the Seoul Regional Ministry of Employment and Labor building in Janggyo-dong, Jung-gu and is open until 10 pm, 365 days a year.

Expansion of Services Including Job Cafés and Free Suit Rental Services for the Youth

In addition, employment support services, which potentially have a direct impact on young people, are being greatly expanded. First, the ‘Seoul’s Job Café’ will be expanded to 100 locations this year, which is an expansion of the current 41 locations established after the implementation of the first center in May of last year. The ‘Seoul’s Job Café’ will introduce a membership management system and provide close management services covering ‘Employment Diagnosis → Strengthening Abilities→ Matching Support → Employment.’ The ‘Job Wing Service’, which provides free rental services of suits for interviews, will be expanded the number of available service target from 4,000 people last year to 10,000 people this year, and the available age will be extended from 18 years old to a youth in their graduating year of high school.

For more details regarding jobs provided by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and more employment-related information, please contact the Seoul Job Portal (job.seoul.go.kr), the Seoul Jobs Plus Center (1588-9142), and the Youth Employment Plus Center (02-731-9511). The information also can be searched at kiosks in Job cafes.