Accelerating Preparation of New Projects Including Marriage Congratulatory Money and Postpartum Care Expenses Support in This Year's Comprehensive Plan
[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Jinju City, Gyeongnam Province, has established the ‘2021 Jinju City Customized Population Policy Comprehensive Plan’ and has begun full-scale implementation to actively respond to population issues and changes caused by low birth rates and aging.
The city plans to revise ordinances in the first half of the year and implement them in the second half, including support projects for marriage congratulatory money in the marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth sectors, newly established postpartum care cost support, expanded childbirth congratulatory money support to reduce the economic burden on childbirth families, and a new project to support eco-friendly agricultural products for pregnant women.
The comprehensive population policy plan established this year includes a total of 26 core tasks aligned with five promotion strategies: ▲reducing the economic burden of marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth ▲ensuring a nurturing environment that promotes continuous growth of children and adolescents ▲creating youth- and women-friendly jobs ▲establishing a balanced residential environment between old and new urban areas ▲supporting middle-aged job opportunities and activities to ensure a healthy old age.
The city is implementing for the first time this year the ‘Our Children’s Healthy Lunchbox Support Project’ for 1,800 elementary school students using after-school care classrooms in 44 elementary schools within the jurisdiction during the 64-day vacation period.
Additionally, to support young people employed in local small and medium-sized enterprises and promote their livelihood stability and long-term employment, the city is launching a welfare support fund project, which is the second nationwide after Gyeonggi Province and the first among local governments nationwide.
For housing stability, the city selected 130 young people aged 19 to 34 who reside in housing with a monthly rent of 600,000 KRW or less and a lease deposit of 100 million KRW or less, with a median income of 150% or below, on January 31. From April, each household will receive up to 150,000 KRW per month for 10 months.
The target for interest support on jeonse (long-term lease) loans for newlywed couples without housing is households where both spouses are registered residents at the same city address within five years of marriage registration, with a combined median income of 180% or less, and a financial institution jeonse loan amount of 150 million KRW or less.
The support amount is 1.5% of the outstanding jeonse loan balance, up to 1 million KRW once a year. For families with multiple children, an additional 20% per child is added, up to a maximum of 1.5 million KRW.
The city is conducting various projects, including holding a population policy idea contest to discover diverse citizen ideas in response to population changes.
Mayor Jo Gyu-il said, “Today’s population issues arise from various factors such as jobs, housing, and childcare environments,” and added, “The city’s customized policies by life cycle are expected to help in many areas including marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, childcare, jobs, and income support.”
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