Consortium Creates Over 4,400 Jobs in Ulsan and Other Employment Crisis Areas

Ulsan Car, Chungnam Energy, Gwangju Electronics, Busan Machinery... Local Government Employment Consortium Development
Lee Jae-gap, Minister of Employment, Signs 'Proactive Employment Stability Package' Agreement with Ulsan Mayor

The main gate of Hyundai Motor Company's Ulsan Plant in Myeongchon on the 14th of last month. (Image source=Yonhap News)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government will support approximately 33 billion KRW to enable regions concerned about employment crises to proactively promote mid- to long-term job projects, creating over 4,400 jobs this year. The goal is to provide opportunities to revitalize key industries in employment crisis areas such as the automobile industry in Ulsan, energy in Chungnam, home appliances in Gwangju, and machinery in Busan.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that Minister Lee Jae-gap signed a business agreement on the "Employment Stability Preemptive Response Package Support Project" at 4 p.m. on the 3rd at the Ulsan Metropolitan City Economic Promotion Agency with Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho and others. Ulsan City formed a consortium with Buk-gu and Ulju-gun of Ulsan to participate in the public offering and was selected as a final agreement region along with consortia from Ulsan, Chungnam, Gwangju, and Busan. The Ulsan consortium will add 6.6 billion KRW in national funding this year, making a total of 8.25 billion KRW available to address the employment crisis.

In this year's package support project public offering, nine consortia participated, and four consortia from Ulsan, Chungnam, Gwangju, and Busan were selected as priority agreement targets. Specifically, the project plans and national funding amounts were finalized for Buk-gu and Ulju-gun in Ulsan (automobile industry, 8.25 billion KRW), Boryeong, Asan, Seosan, and Dangjin in Chungnam (coal-fired power generation, etc., 8.19 billion KRW), Buk-gu and Gwangsan-gu in Gwangju (home appliances, etc., 8.85 billion KRW), and Sasang, Saha, and Gangseo-gu in Busan (machinery parts, 8.13 billion KRW). The plan is to create a total of 4,442 jobs: 1,215 in Ulsan, 1,101 in Chungnam, 1,016 in Gwangju, and 1,110 in Busan.

Additionally, to proactively respond to the deterioration of regional key industries and job losses during the economic structural transition such as carbon neutrality, the project will include support for companies' transition to eco-friendly jobs and package services for workers' job transfers and reemployment support.

The core of the package support project, established last year, is that metropolitan and basic local governments form consortia, and the government supports them with 4 billion to 14 billion KRW annually for up to five years. Last year, five regions including Jeonbuk were selected, creating over 6,300 jobs. Although there was an existing employment crisis area system, it had limitations as support was provided only after the crisis had already occurred.

Minister Lee emphasized, "The package support project is a 'mid- to long-term job project' led by the region, playing a significant role in preemptively overcoming crises tailored to local circumstances," adding, "The success of the project depends above all on the interest and efforts of local governments." He stated, "The automobile industry, which has driven our economy, is facing significant changes, and Ulsan, the largest automobile industry cluster in the country, stands at the center of these changes," and added, "Support for the transition of internal combustion engine parts companies to the future car industry and support for labor mobility and new workforce training to back industrial structural changes will also be strengthened."