Gyeongnam Province Eases 'Saeil Intern' Requirements to Expand Employment for Career-Interrupted Women

Companies with fewer than 5 regular employees are also eligible

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kang Woo-kwon] Gyeongsangnam-do announced on the 4th that it will strengthen employment support for women who have experienced career interruptions and are facing employment crises due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), and will actively support women's employment.

To expand employment opportunities for women with career interruptions, the province will temporarily relax the participation requirements for the Women Reemployment Center Internship Program (Saeil Internship). Saeil Internship is a project that provides financial support to companies and women for a certain period when companies hire women with career interruptions as trainee employees.

The size of companies eligible to participate in this project will be changed from the existing "companies with 5 or more and fewer than 1,000 regular employees" to "companies with 1 or more regular employees" for a certain period, allowing small-scale companies to participate.

Additionally, participants who are hired directly by companies as interns without going through the Saeil Center's internship linkage can also receive the "Saeil Internship Support Fund."

Furthermore, by relaxing employment conditions for part-time trainee employees (interns), easing restrictions on internship-linked job categories, and loosening criteria restricting participation of companies undergoing layoffs, more women will be able to participate in the Saeil Internship program.

The total support fund for Saeil Internship is capped at 3.6 million KRW per person, with 2.7 million KRW paid to the company and 900,000 KRW to the intern. Companies receive an "Internship Support Fund" of 800,000 KRW per month for three months during the internship period, and a "Employment Incentive" of 300,000 KRW upon maintaining employment for more than three months.

Interns receive 900,000 KRW as an employment incentive if they maintain employment for more than three months from the date of conversion to a full-time or regular position after the internship ends.

Han Mi-young, Director of the Women's Policy Division of Gyeongsangnam-do, said, "To overcome the employment crisis caused by COVID-19, we will actively support female workers to maintain stable jobs and also reduce the burden on companies providing jobs."