Starting Next Year, Ministry of Gender Equality to Launch Pilot Project Specializing in 'Women's Employment Retention Services'

Vice Minister Kim Kyung-sun Inspects Saeil Center's Quarantine and Employment Support On-site
Saeil Center Operates 159 Locations This Year, Providing 177,000 Jobs

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will launch a specialized pilot project called the 'Women's Employment Retention Service' starting next year. This project provides customized services before the occurrence of career interruption risk factors.

On the 23rd, Kim Kyung-sun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, visited the Dongbu Women's New Work Center in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, to inspect COVID-19 quarantine measures and held a meeting with company officials, employed women, and employment counselors to gather field opinions regarding the Women's Economic Activity Promotion Act, which will be implemented in June next year.

The 'Women's Employment Retention Project,' an advanced version of the existing career interruption prevention project, conducts a pre-diagnosis of individual risk factors, connects experts for each service, and supports personalized case management services. For women who wish to change jobs, career planning is provided; for women experiencing burnout, psychological counseling is offered; and for women facing difficulties due to care gaps, psychological counseling is also provided.

As the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has led to a downturn in face-to-face industries, worsening hiring conditions and increasing caregiving burdens, the role of the Women's New Work Centers (Saeil Centers) has grown. This year, the number of women experiencing career interruptions is approximately 1,448,000, accounting for 17.4% of the total.

The Saeil Centers are customized employment support institutions that comprehensively assist women whose careers have been interrupted due to childcare and caregiving, providing services from job counseling to vocational training, work experience, job matching, and post-employment follow-up management. Starting with 72 centers in 2009, 159 centers are currently operating as of this year. Last year, about 177,000 people found jobs through the Saeil Centers.

Vice Minister Kim Kyung-sun stated, "In line with the enforcement of the amended Women's Economic Activity Promotion Act, we will continue policy efforts to ensure that women can wisely overcome various career interruption risks such as pregnancy, childbirth, caregiving, career and aptitude mismatches, and gender-discriminatory organizational cultures, and that a culture where women can work without career interruptions is firmly established."