Support Ends March 31... Listening to Industry's Extension Requests
[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] On the 18th, Lee Jae-gap, Minister of Employment and Labor, visited Jeju Air to hear the airline industry's request to extend the designation period of the special employment support sector and decided to actively consider it. The designation period for the special employment support sector in the airline industry is until the 31st of next month.
At 2 p.m. that day, Minister Lee visited Jeju Air's Seoul office in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, and expressed his intention to support special employment sectors and paid/unpaid employment retention subsidies.
The employment retention subsidy is a system that supports part of the labor costs when employers facing difficulties due to COVID-19, etc., choose to suspend operations or grant leave instead of layoffs or downsizing.
Jeju Air and the airline industry requested in the meeting to extend the designation period of the special employment support sector.
Minister Lee responded, "The government will support the efforts of labor and management to maintain employment through all possible policy measures."
Jeju Air was hit hard by COVID-19, with sales sharply declining since February last year, facing a crisis requiring employment adjustments. Meanwhile, labor and management agreed to maintain employment by partially returning executive salaries and reducing welfare benefits.
In March last year, Jeju Air became the first airline to utilize the employment retention subsidy system. They provided 28.5 billion KRW in subsidies to 25,827 people.
According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, last year, 2.2779 trillion KRW in employment retention subsidies were paid to 770,000 people across 72,000 businesses. This year, a budget of 1.5416 trillion KRW was allocated, supporting 14,000 people in 21,000 businesses with 160.2 billion KRW.
This year, the scope was expanded to reduce blind spots by allowing employment retention support for dispatched workers working at workplaces where the primary contractor suspends operations or grants leave.
Until next month, 90% of the suspension allowance will be supported, and the unpaid leave support period for the special employment support sector was extended by three months from 180 days to 270 days. During the extension period, workers on unpaid leave will receive 500,000 KRW per month.
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