Seoul City Safe Jobs Begin Helping the Vulnerable in 5 Sectors

7147 Participants in 1631 Projects

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 26th that it will officially implement the Seoul Citizen Safety Job Project from January, supporting vulnerable employment groups such as the unemployed and daily workers to assist other vulnerable groups in our society. The project has been restructured from public jobs aimed at livelihood support to jobs where citizens become beneficiaries.

In particular, in response to the economic downturn caused by the three highs (high prices, high interest rates, and high exchange rates) and the contraction of private sector jobs, 70% of this year's budget will be spent in the first half of the year to ensure the livelihood stability of vulnerable groups.

The project for the first half of this year will operate from January 10 to June 30. A total of 7,147 people will participate in 1,631 job projects conducted by the city and autonomous districts, including school zone traffic safety guards, meal delivery helpers for elderly living alone, Seoul subway safety personnel, environmental security officers monitoring illegal dumping, and digital guides assisting elderly people in adapting to digital technology.

Since its restructuring in 2023, the 'Seoul Citizen Safety Job' project is based on the philosophy of 'walking with the vulnerable,' where vulnerable participants in the job project help other vulnerable groups through a foundation of self-help and self-reliance. It supports vulnerable groups in five areas: physical, economic, social safety, climate environment, and digital.

Meanwhile, an analysis of the recruitment results for the first half of this year showed that among the total 7,147 participants, support for 'social safety vulnerable' accounted for 40% (2,840 people), 'climate environment vulnerable' 25% (1,763 people), and 'physical vulnerable' 16% (1,139 people), in that order. It was confirmed that the Safety Job project, which had been excessively concentrated on environmental maintenance projects (54% last year), was evenly distributed into 'social safety' and other fields through the restructuring of public jobs.

Kim Taekyun, Director of Economic Policy at Seoul City, said, “Public jobs are basically provided to vulnerable groups, but the policy is significant in that those participating in the Safety Job project work for other vulnerable groups in our society.”