Ministry of Employment's Budget for Next Year Confirmed at 34.9 Trillion Won... Increased Support for Private Jobs and Labor Reform

The Ministry of Employment and Labor's budget for next year has been finalized at approximately 35 trillion won. The budget, which was temporarily increased during the COVID-19 period, has been normalized, with next year's budget focused on supporting vulnerable sectors, protecting public life and health, and supporting private job creation through vocational training and employment assistance.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that next year's budget was finalized at 34.9505 trillion won, which is 41.8 billion won less than the government's proposal of 34.9923 trillion won approved by the National Assembly plenary session on the 24th. During the review process, 71.2 billion won was increased for projects such as support for employment management of persons with disabilities, the Youth Tomorrow Savings Program, and skilled technology promotion projects, but 113 billion won was cut from projects such as the construction of industrial accident hospitals and the Tomorrow Learning Card.

Specifically, the budget for labor market reform has increased. The budget for expanding the wage infrastructure for mutual growth, including the design and establishment of the Korean-style O*net (a job-specific market wage information system) and conducting market wage surveys by industry, increased more than threefold from the previous year to 2.43 billion won.

The budget for workplace innovation consulting, which helps companies independently introduce reasonable wage and working hour systems tailored to their business characteristics, will increase from 25.7 billion won this year to 28 billion won next year. Additionally, 3.8 billion won has been allocated to create a fair labor market through the development and dissemination of competency-based recruitment models, corporate consulting, and distribution of empathetic recruitment manuals.

The budget for nurturing talent in advanced industries will also increase. The budget for training core practical talents in advanced industries and digital sectors will rise from 324.8 billion won (29,000 people) to 416.3 billion won (37,000 people) next year, and the Polytech High-Tech course budget will increase from 6.2 billion won (1,200 people) to 7.7 billion won (1,500 people). Budgets have also been allocated for establishing a semiconductor department at Korea Polytechnic University and expanding joint training centers utilizing large corporations' infrastructure.

A budget of 7.1 billion won has been allocated for the 'Competency Development Dedicated Physician' system, which manages all stages of corporate human resource development (HRD), and 13.4 billion won has been allocated for on-site customized training that provides training courses tailored to the characteristics and capabilities of individual companies and supports necessary training costs. The operating support budget for Korea Polytechnic University increased from 224.1 billion won to 278.7 billion won, and the operating support budget for Korea University of Technology and Education increased from 40.3 billion won to 50 billion won.

A budget of 1.7 billion won has been allocated to establish industry-specific employment support hubs to alleviate recruitment difficulties in key national industries such as shipbuilding and semiconductors, and the regional innovation project budget, which prioritizes support scope and levels according to regional and industrial characteristics, has been significantly increased from 29.4 billion won this year to 65 billion won next year.

A budget of 18 billion won has been allocated for the integrated employment service network to advance the national employment service infrastructure, and 2.4 billion won each for the Corporate Leap Guarantee Package and Job Seeker Leap Guarantee Package. The employment and labor education project budget for qualitative advancement of employment services was finalized at 7.8 billion won.

The budget to establish a thick and dense employment safety net to eliminate social insurance blind spots was increased by 29.8 billion won from 1.0466 trillion won this year to 1.0764 trillion won. It also includes 2 billion won for platform worker protection support and 16 billion won for specialized training for platform workers.

In particular, to expand practical support for working parents, the budget for childcare period working hour reduction benefits increased more than double to 93.7 billion won from 41.7 billion won this year. The childcare leave benefit budget increased by 115.7 billion won to 1.6964 trillion won compared to this year.

Other allocations include 55.3 billion won for youth work experience support (20,000 people), 25.1 billion won for youth-friendly company ESG support, 55.8 billion won for elderly employment subsidies (53,000 people), 26.8 billion won for elderly continuous employment incentives (8,200 people), 22.3 billion won for middle-aged employment support, 13.3 billion won for small and medium enterprise retirement pension fund management, 297.7 billion won for disability employment incentives, and 227 billion won for expanded support for work assistants.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor's total expenditure for next year decreased by 1.6215 trillion won (4.4%) compared to this year's main budget. The general and special accounts amount to 66.741 trillion won, down 425.2 billion won (6.0%), and funds amount to 282.765 trillion won, down 1.1962 trillion won (4.1%). Among the funds, the Employment Insurance Fund (169.107 trillion won) decreased by 10.2%, while the Industrial Accident Insurance Fund (96.406 trillion won) and the Disability Fund (8.478 trillion won) increased by 8.5% and 10.6%, respectively.

In the early morning of the 24th, after the passage of next year's budget bill and the announcement of the adjournment, lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties are leaving the National Assembly plenary session hall.
[Image source=Yonhap News]