12th Small Business Support Agreement Among Metropolitan Governments
30% Employment Insurance Premium Supported by Daegu City Budget for 3 Years
Up to 80% Benefits Overlapping with Small Enterprise and Market Service
Self-employed workers in the Daegu area will also receive support for employment insurance premiums.
The Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service (Director Park Jong-gil) announced on the 17th that it will carry out a social insurance premium support project for small business owners in cooperation with Daegu City.
The Service signed a business agreement on the 17th with Daegu City, the Small Enterprise and Market Service, Daegu Credit Guarantee Foundation, and two other organizations to support social insurance premiums for small business owners.
Starting with Gangwon Province in 2018, the Service has signed agreements with 12 metropolitan governments and 8 local governments over the past five years, providing approximately 17.1 billion KRW annually in insurance premium support. This effort aims to eliminate blind spots in social insurance and reduce the management burden on small business owners.
The metropolitan local governments that have signed agreements with the Service include Seoul, Busan, Gyeonggi, Gyeongnam, Gangwon, Chungnam, Daejeon, Gwangju, Ulsan, Jeju, Sejong, and Daegu, while the local governments include Seongnam City, Pohang City, Iksan City, Yeongcheon City, Gimcheon City, Nowon-gu, Seongbuk-gu, and Gokseong-gun.
Under this agreement, sole proprietors in Daegu City who are enrolled in self-employed employment insurance will be able to receive support for their employment insurance premiums for up to three years starting in August.
This support can be applied for concurrently with subsidies from the Small Enterprise and Market Service, and up to 80% of the premiums can be covered, significantly reducing the insurance premium burden.
Self-employed employment insurance is available to business owners who have no employees or employ fewer than 50 workers, provided they meet certain conditions such as holding a business registration at the time of enrollment and actively operating their business.
Insurance enrollment can be completed through the Employment and Industrial Accident Insurance Total Service. For more details, inquiries can be made to the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service call center or by visiting the Service’s website.
Applications for employment insurance premium support for sole proprietors in Daegu City can be submitted by visiting one of the seven branches of the Daegu Credit Guarantee Foundation with the required documents or by email. Guidance is available by contacting the Daegu Credit Guarantee Foundation Corporate Success Support Center.
Director Park Jong-gil stated, “We encourage small business owners, who are struggling due to minimum wage increases and other challenges, to actively enroll in self-employed employment insurance, which can provide some relief. We will also strive to strengthen the social safety net supporting small business owners by signing agreements with more metropolitan governments in the future.”
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