Seoul City, Revamps Employment Stepping Stone New Deal Job Project

Support from Job Matching to Certification Acquisition

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 16th that it will select 4,250 participants for the ‘Seoul-type New Deal Jobs’ program this year, which provides services necessary for citizens' daily lives while addressing youth unemployment.

The Seoul-type New Deal Jobs program is divided into public and private types. The public type is a project planned by the city, autonomous districts, and investment-funded institutions that helps participants build job experience and professional skills through specialized training to facilitate entry into private sector jobs. This year, the goal is to recruit 2,000 people, with subtypes including the Companion-type and Career Formation-type. The private type selects capable private associations and organizations, with participant selection led by these groups, followed by specialized training and internships to connect participants to private sector employment. This year, 2,250 participants will be recruited. It is divided into two types: private company customized projects and private association/organization cooperation types.

The changed features of this year’s ‘Seoul-type New Deal Jobs’ program are ▲reducing the proportion of public-type (city, district, investment-funded institutions) projects from the current 80% to about half, 50%. The program has been reorganized to focus on the original purpose of ‘strengthening employment in the private sector.’ ▲The mandatory professional training for public-type job participants has been expanded to a total of 160 hours to enhance expertise. ▲Private sector employment rates and job productivity will be improved. For the public type, 10 job coordinators will be assigned to intensively support participants’ job search activities. For the private type, efforts will be expanded to discover capable associations and organizations to lead quality job creation, and companies with high rates of employment extension and regular employee hiring will be prioritized for selection to connect participants to employment, thereby increasing ‘job sustainability.’

Kim Taekyun, Director of Economic Policy at Seoul City, said, “As the economy is difficult, the role of public jobs linked to employment stepping stones like New Deal Jobs is important.” He added, “We will operate the program so that participants can not only gain job experience in specialized fields during the New Deal Jobs activity period but also develop job competencies, ultimately enabling them to enter and settle in private sector jobs, moving away from public jobs that were operated from a welfare perspective.”