Awarded in the Public Announcement Sector... Set a 'Great Record' with 11 Consecutive Years of Awards in Various Evaluations by the Ministry of Employment and Labor... Praised for the Youth Employment Space 'Cheongnyeon Irum' and the 'G-Valley Employment Environment and Job Ecosystem Improvement Project'... Created 13,752 Jobs Last Year... This Year’s Declaration of a 'City Without Layoffs' Amid the COVID Crisis Also Draws Attention
[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Guro-gu (Mayor Lee Sung) has won the Grand Prize for Excellence once again this year as the only autonomous district in Seoul at the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s ‘2020 National Local Government Job Awards,’ following last year’s achievement.
With this award, Guro-gu has set a remarkable record of winning awards for 11 consecutive years in various job evaluations conducted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor from 2010 to this year.
Starting with the Excellence Award in the Regional Job Policy Brand Project jointly hosted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Encouragement Award in the Comprehensive Measures category in 2010, Guro-gu received the Excellence Award at the 2011 National Regional Brand Job Project Competition, the Grand Prize for Excellence in the 2012 National Job Creation Comprehensive Evaluation, Excellence in the 2013 National Job Creation Comprehensive Evaluation, Excellence in the 2014 Regional Job Target Disclosure System Comprehensive Evaluation, the Grand Prize for Excellence in the Social Economy category at the 2015 National Local Government Job Competition, Special and Excellence Awards in the Regional Job Target Disclosure System in 2016 and 2017, a Special Award in the Target Disclosure System category in 2018, and the Grand Prize for Excellence in the 2019 National Local Government Job Evaluation.
The ‘National Local Government Job Awards’ are held annually by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to promote local governments’ efforts and achievements in job creation and to raise social awareness.
This year, 243 local governments nationwide (17 metropolitan and 226 basic local governments) were classified into seven evaluation groups based on population, number of workers, and outstanding cases of local governments, and evaluated comprehensively. The evaluation was conducted in two stages: the first stage was a document review, and the second stage was a video interview, covering three indicators: job creation planning, execution, and performance. Award-winning local governments were selected in two categories: ‘Disclosure System’ and ‘Outstanding Projects.’
Guro-gu won the Grand Prize for Excellence in the Disclosure System category in the ‘Ba’ group, which includes most autonomous districts in Seoul. The award ceremony was held on the 29th at the Government Sejong Convention Center.
To systematically manage job policies, Guro-gu established a dedicated department, the Job Support Division, in 2010. In July 2017, a Youth Support Team was newly created within the Job Support Division to increase youth employment rates.
Based on this, Guro-gu has implemented various policies such as job fairs, overseas export consultations, customized employment education, and operation of start-up support centers to create more than 10,000 jobs annually. As a result of these efforts, last year, Guro-gu created 13,752 jobs, exceeding the target of 13,300.
In this evaluation, Guro-gu received favorable reviews for its youth employment activity spaces ‘Cheongnyeon Irum’ and the ‘G-Valley Employment Environment and Job Ecosystem Improvement Project.’
‘Cheongnyeon Irum’ is a total job platform created by Guro-gu in cooperation with Seoul Metro at the basement level 1 of Cheonwang Station. It operates programs such as IT education related to the 4th Industrial Revolution, job study groups, corporate linkage activities, and employment lectures, supporting social economy, start-ups, and youth employment activities.
The ‘G-Valley Employment Environment and Job Ecosystem Improvement Project’ was promoted to create good jobs by improving the employment environment of companies in the Seoul Digital Industrial Complex (G-Valley) and the working conditions of workers.
The district office and related organizations formed a public-private consultative body to provide customized consulting for each company and conducted campaigns for reducing working hours and training for HR managers. Through this, companies reduced labor cost burdens, increased new hires, and workers were able to work in better environments.
Additionally, the district prepared customized employment programs by age and situation according to corporate demand. Various programs were operated, including employment classes for women with career interruptions, security guard and taxi/microbus driver training courses for middle-aged and older adults, and a total reemployment project for middle-aged and older adults.
For youth employment, projects such as campus town creation, youth job cafes, Guro-type Youth Tomorrow Savings, youth new media creator training courses, and small and medium enterprise experience programs were also carried out.
This year, Guro-gu is focusing on building an employment safety net to respond to the COVID-19 economic crisis. As part of this, it declared a ‘City Without Layoffs’ and supports companies that maintain employment. This is to prevent the economic foundation from collapsing due to mass unemployment.
The ‘City Without Layoffs’ project provides benefits such as employment insurance subscription support and occupancy fee reductions to companies that promise and maintain employment.
A Guro-gu official said, “As a result of our efforts to create good jobs every year, we have achieved the great accomplishment of winning awards for 11 consecutive years. In the situation where the local economy is threatened by COVID-19, we will do our best to protect jobs, which are the foundation of the economy.”
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