‘Strengthening Government Youth Internship Program’.. National Assembly Secretariat and Ministry of Employment Meeting Held

1st Meeting of the Work-Experience Policy Council Held
Discussion on Enhancing the Quality of Youth Internships

On the 28th, the Office for Government Policy Coordination and the Ministry of Employment and Labor held the '1st Work-Experience Policy Council' to focus on ways to enhance the operation of youth internships in central government ministries, which began posting job announcements from February.

To revitalize youth employment, the government decided that this year, starting with 8 ministries (Office for Government Policy Coordination, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korea Customs Service, Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, Statistics Korea, Korea Forest Service, Korean Intellectual Property Office, and Ministry of Employment and Labor) this month, a total of 45 central administrative agencies will recruit about 2,000 youth interns.

The council discussed measures to provide these selected youth interns with practical job experience.

They plan to strengthen communication by holding mentoring programs and meetings, and open channels of opportunity so that the voices of youth can be reflected in national policy. To this end, the Office for Government Policy Coordination will regularly review youth internships in central ministries, public institutions, and financially supported private internship programs.

Japan-Korea Experience Policy Council Organization Chart (Source: Prime Minister's Office)

They also discussed this year’s 'Youth Work-Experience Support Project Implementation Plan.' Interest will be increased in private companies implementing youth-friendly projects from an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) perspective.

Going forward, the 'Work-Experience Policy Council' will oversee and coordinate youth work-experience support systems within the government. Song Kyung-won, Director of Youth Policy Coordination at the Office for Government Policy Coordination, will serve as the chairperson, with the Youth Policy Planning Officer (Public Sector) of the Office for Government Policy Coordination and the Youth Employment Policy Officer (Private Sector) of the Ministry of Employment and Labor acting as joint secretaries. Relevant ministries and city/provincial youth policy officers will participate as members.

This council plans to closely cooperate on expanding work-experience opportunities by sector and improving program quality for youth seeking high-quality work experience.

Meanwhile, the central government ministry youth internship recruitment system reflects the preferences of youth who want work experience in the public sector. According to a survey on 'Institutions Wishing to Participate in Work Experience' conducted by the Human Resources Development Service of Korea in December last year, mid-sized companies (29.3%) and large companies were followed by public institutions (16.5%) in terms of participation preference.