Satisfaction Rate 98% Employment Support Policy... Helpless Against Budget Exhaustion

User Numbers Increase but Project Ends Early Due to Budget Exhaustion
Gyeongnam Province Ends After 6 Months, Busan City for 2 Consecutive Years
"Hope Good Policies for Youth Continue"

Suit rental services that alleviate the financial burden on job seekers are gaining popularity, but there are concerns about sustainability issues as projects are prematurely terminated due to insufficient budgets. Even though each local government sets an annual rental limit per person, as the number of users increases, projects are often ended early once the budget is exhausted regardless of the remaining rental counts. Since this is a youth employment support service with a 98% user satisfaction rate, policy improvements are needed to ensure stable access.

Gyeongnam Province's suit rental service 'Shootgol (suit goal)' ended its business early in September last year. [Image source=Captured from Gyeongnam Province Youth Information Platform website]

User satisfaction with suit rental services is high. According to a survey conducted by Seoul City targeting users of the 'Job Wing Service,' the average satisfaction rate over seven years (2017?2023) was 98%. The number of users also surged about 13.7 times, from 4,032 in the first year of introduction in 2016 to 55,114 last year. Other local governments also received positive responses, with Busan City reporting about 98% satisfaction and Daegu City scoring 4.85 out of 5 in last year’s satisfaction survey.

As the number of rentals increased, many regions expanded their support. Incheon City increased the annual interview suit rental limit from 3 times per person to 5 times starting last year. To improve accessibility, the number of rental companies was expanded from 3 to 4. Seoul City added three branches?Cheonho, Yeongdeungpo, and Nowon?last year and started operations at the Jongno branch this year, making a total of 14 branches available for suit rentals. Bucheon City in Gyeonggi Province also significantly expanded its user base based on an average satisfaction rate of 99% and increased users. The rental target was expanded from youth aged 18 to 39 residing in Bucheon to include middle-aged residents (ages 40 to 64), high school seniors preparing for employment within the city, and university students starting in 2022.

However, there are frequent cases where the project is prematurely halted due to early budget exhaustion caused by high demand. Busan City’s 'Dream Wardrobe' project was prematurely terminated for two consecutive years. Although there are five institutions providing Dream Wardrobe services?▲Coaching (Change Lady Busan branch) ▲Re & Tailor ▲Parkland (Gwangbok, Bugok, Deokcheon branches)?currently only the three Parkland branches are available. The project ended at the end of October last year when the support target of 6,700 people was reached.

The normalization of the service relies on support from private companies. Busan-based company Parkland resumed the project in November of the same year by providing suits free of charge as part of its corporate social responsibility. Previously, in 2022, the project was also terminated at the end of August after reaching the support target of 6,600 applicants, but the city and the Economic Promotion Agency collaborated with Parkland to restart the project in October of that year. Choi Hye-jung (27), who used Dream Wardrobe twice, said, "It is financially burdensome for job seekers to purchase interview suits," adding, "I hope policies that help youth continue to operate."

Gyeongnam Province’s 'Shoot Goal' suit rental service ended six months after its launch last year due to budget exhaustion. The service started in March and closed applications in September of the same year. A representative from Gyeongnam Province’s Youth Policy Division said, "The project was prematurely terminated due to budget exhaustion," adding, "This year’s budget is similar to last year’s." Gyeongnam Province plans to resume the service in March after completing the vendor selection process. However, considering the increasing number of suit rental users, there is a possibility that the project will again be prematurely terminated around September this year if the budget does not increase. When using private suit rental companies, job seekers must bear an average cost of 50,000 to 70,000 KRW per interview just for suit rental.