Hong Nam-ki: "Trend of Growth Without Employment... Full Effort to Prevent Scars on MZ Generation"

Minister of Employment Ahn Kyung-duk Followed by Deputy Prime Minister Hong
Promoting '9 Million Won per Person Support' Youth Employment Special Incentive Policy
Hong: "Youth Message to Be Reflected in Mid-June Second Half Economic Policy Direction"

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance (right), is seen experiencing VR during a visit to Ventavr in Mapo-gu, Seoul on the 20th. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Strategy and Finance, emphasized on the 20th, "The trend of growth without employment may continue," adding, "We will make every effort to ensure that this trend does not leave scars on the so-called MZ generation." He stated, "For young people to achieve their dreams, having timely opportunities to work is the most important."

Deputy Prime Minister Hong visited the young startup company Ventavr at 4 p.m. that day. Located in Mapo-gu, Seoul, it is a company specializing in virtual reality (VR) equipment and content production, and CEO Jeon Woo-yeol is a graduate of the Youth Startup Academy operated by the Small and Medium Business Corporation. Along with Deputy Prime Minister Hong, Kim Young-jung, Director of Employment Policy at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, Oh Ki-woong, Director of Startup Promotion Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, as well as Jung Seung-hwan, CEO of Ryan Rocket, and Lee Sang-min, CEO of Newbility, attended.

Deputy Prime Minister Hong recalled the harsh reality of the frozen employment market, noting that the youth expanded unemployment rate recorded 25.1% last month. He said, "The perceived unemployment rate among young people remains high, and one in four young people continues to struggle to find the job they want," adding, "The government is actively implementing special support measures to expand youth employment and entrepreneurship by strengthening the private sector's capacity to create decent youth jobs."

He particularly urged companies to actively participate in the 'Youth Special Hiring Incentive' policy. This program, approved at the Cabinet meeting on the 18th, supports employers with up to 9 million KRW per person for up to one year if they hire youth aged 15 to 34 as regular employees and meet certain conditions. Coincidentally, on the same afternoon, An Kyung-duk, Minister of Employment and Labor, visited Foodnamu, a KOSDAQ-listed company utilizing youth job policies, to check corporate responses to the special incentive policy. Key officials from major economic ministries are actively promoting youth employment policies.

He also mentioned the existing major youth job promotion policy, the 'Youth Digital Job Project.' This key youth job promotion policy supports small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-sized companies that hire youth for IT-related jobs for more than three months by providing 11.4 million KRW per worker for six months covering wages and indirect labor costs. Through this project, companies have hired 34,000 young people as of the 6th.

Deputy Prime Minister Hong described these two policies as "projects reflecting the government's determination to accelerate the recovery of youth employment," and urged, "We plan to support continuous expansion of youth employment by companies, so we expect active utilization of these policies and positive responses from companies."

During the meeting, he discussed various policy alternatives supporting startups, employment, and individual youth. Regarding startups, they agreed to foster talent in the 4th industrial revolution fields, create investment conditions for startup companies needing 'scale-up,' and revitalize university startups. To increase employment, they plan to support manpower acquisition for small and medium enterprises. They also discussed support for education expenses for young workers in SMEs.

Deputy Prime Minister Hong stated, "We will collect the opinions raised at today's meeting as much as possible to reflect them in the second half economic policy direction to be announced in mid-next month, so that youth employment opportunities can be expanded."