Employment Rate 65%, 49,000 Employed, Goal to Achieve 12,267 Jobs Announced
According to Statistics Korea, the national total fertility rate has been decreasing annually, recording 0.81 in 2021, 0.78 in 2022, and 0.72 in 2023. In response, ahead of the 22nd National Assembly elections, the political sphere is focusing intensively on population policies to raise the fertility rate.
There is a hot city outside the metropolitan area where the population steadily increases every year. It is Muan-gun in Jeollanam-do. While neighboring local governments face concerns over mergers due to population extinction, Muan-gun had a population of 90,600 as of the end of last year, with an average age of 43, making it the youngest region among the 22 cities and counties in Jeollanam-do.
Muan-gun has maintained steady population growth through the development of the Namak and Oryong districts, increasing from 81,105 in 2019 to 86,132 in 2020, 91,107 in 2021, 90,608 in 2022, and 90,296 in 2023. Once the development of the Oryong district is completed and the population reaches 120,000, the plan is to focus administrative efforts on upgrading Muan to city status.
According to the county on the 3rd, as the administrative hub city where the Jeollanam-do provincial office is located, Muan is equipped with infrastructure such as Muan International Airport, Seohaean Expressway, Namhae Expressway, Muan-Gwangju Expressway, and Honam Line, and is a transportation hub with the Namhaean railway (electrification) and Honam high-speed railway currently under construction.
Additionally, the region hosts three universities including the National Mokpo University, Chodang University, and Korea Polytechnics Jeonnam Campus, providing excellent human resources.
With abundant potential, Muan, the southwestern regional hub city, aims to focus on creating locally driven jobs and establishing a foundation for future growth under the vision of “Young City, Economic Capital Muan, Prosperous and Coexistent Muan.”
Muan-gun was selected as an excellent city/county in the fields of job creation, local economy, and investment attraction at the 2023 Jeonnam Job Fair hosted by Jeollanam-do. [Photo by Muan-gun]
◇ Muan-gun: “Quality jobs are a crucial factor in improving quality of life”
As the city steadily grows and population inflows increase, stable jobs are essential. Quality jobs are necessary to plan for the future. From a welfare perspective, quality jobs improve the quality of life not only for youth, elderly, women, and vulnerable groups but also for the emerging middle-aged demographic.
Muan-gun recognizes the importance of such jobs and has established a “Job Virtuous Cycle Collaboration System” centered on the dedicated job creation team. The county systematically promotes job policies across five major sectors: strategic industries, youth, agriculture and fisheries, tailored sectors by social class, and small and medium enterprises and small business owners.
Last year, Mokpo National University Startup Innovation Center held a Maker Festival. [Photo by Muan-gun]
◇ Increase in employed persons, regular workers, and employment insurance subscribers in Muan-gun in 2023
As of the second half of last year, the industrial structure of employed persons in Muan-gun was 26.9% in the primary industry, 14.9% in the secondary industry, and 58.2% in the tertiary industry. In 2022, the number of business establishments by size was 9,738, a decrease of 126 compared to the previous year, with small businesses (1?4 employees) decreasing by 129. This decline is largely attributed to the disappearance of small-scale service sector sole proprietors due to the COVID-19 situation.
However, with the end of COVID-19, the economically active population (ages 15?64) increased by 1.0% to 56,000 in 2023 compared to 2022, the number of employed persons rose by 1.0% to 49,700, and the employment rate (ages 15?64) increased by 0.7%, while the unemployment rate decreased by 5.5%.
Among the economically active population (ages 15?64), the male employment rate increased by 1.0% compared to the previous year, and the female employment rate also rose by 0.9%. Regarding employment status, the number of regular workers increased by 2,100 (9.5%) compared to 2022, and the number of employment insurance subscribers increased by 300 (1.8%), indicating an increase in quality jobs.
Last year, the YD Festival 4th Industrial Revolution Experience event was held at Namak Kim Dae-jung Park. [Photo by Muan-gun]
◇ Announcement of detailed annual plans for 2024 job policies
Muan-gun announced the detailed annual plans for the 2024 regional job policy disclosure system, aiming for an employment rate (ages 15?64) of 65%, 49,000 employed persons, and 12,267 jobs in the public and private sectors.
In the second year of the 8th elected administration, considering global interest rate hikes and economic volatility as well as the government's fiscal tightening, Muan-gun set the 2024 regional job targets as an employment rate (ages 15?64) of 65%, 49,000 employed persons, 21,600 regular workers, and 16,900 employment insurance subscribers.
Furthermore, the plan is to create 12,267 jobs in the public and private sectors, avoiding short-term and seasonal jobs, expanding regular jobs, and increasing the proportion of vocational training, employment and startup support, and infrastructure development.
◇ 12,267 jobs created with 73.4 billion KRW invested in 219 projects across 7 sectors
In the detailed 2024 job policy plan, Muan-gun will invest approximately 73.4 billion KRW in 219 projects across seven sectors: direct job creation (public), vocational skill development training, employment services, employment incentives, employment and startup support, job infrastructure development, and corporate attraction and support, creating 12,267 jobs.
Key strategies include creating stable jobs tailored to social classes (supporting vulnerable groups by addressing job blind spots), creating jobs customized to local industries (promoting job projects based on unique characteristics), discovering youth entrepreneurship and job creation opportunities (supporting education and consulting for employment and startups), establishing regional employment job governance (linking employment, support projects, and systems), and building job infrastructure through regional development projects (such as the aviation MRO complex, K-Food convergence complex, and multi-purpose cultural spaces).
Last year, five cities and counties including Jeollanam-do and Muan-gun hosted the Jeonnam Western Region Job Fair, attended by (left) Kim San, Muan-gun Governor. [Photo by Muan-gun]
Government sector direct job creation projects provide practical jobs by maximizing the use of local specialized resources for seniors wishing to work, vulnerable groups, low-income individuals, and job seekers due to unemployment. These include 113 projects such as the National Business Survey and Social Survey, public work and community jobs, Youth Village, Youth Digital New Deal, Carbon Neutral Smart Green, DS expert training, senior jobs and social activity support, meal assistant support, inclusive care support, jobs for the disabled, self-support work, sports instructor support, forest maintenance, forest services, forest disaster jobs, transportation vulnerable mobility, village community, urban regeneration support, vaccination support, integrated mental health promotion, agricultural policy management support, livestock quarantine jobs, and ecological tidal flat management, with a budget of 43.8 billion KRW providing 4,814 jobs annually.
Vocational skill development training projects strengthen specialized education by field to cultivate leading personnel, including compound semiconductor technology support and workforce training, early employment contract department operation, IT/3D employment and startup skill training, informatization education, lifelong learning programs, career experience support centers, employment schools for marriage immigrant women, women's employment and startup classes, garden expert training, fisherfolk capacity building, youth entrepreneurial farmer capacity building, agricultural education and capacity building, agricultural drone certification support, small construction machinery license training, women's agricultural professional skill development, and education on using domestic rice processed foods, totaling 42 projects with an 1.8 billion KRW budget providing quality specialized education to 1,812 people annually.
Employment service projects include the Jeonnam western region job fair, Muan-gun job seeker and employer meeting days, Mokpo University Job Plus Center operation, Muan Employment Welfare Center operation, youth center operation, youth platform operation, senior club operation, regional self-support center operation, rural employment manpower support center operation, and return-to-farming and return-to-village support center operation. These 10 projects have a budget of 1.4 billion KRW, matching quality jobs to 3,536 people annually through Muan-gun’s sectoral job platforms.
Employment incentive support projects aim to establish a stable regional settlement base for youth interns and regular workers, including employment succession workplace incentives, working youth allowances, youth employment housing support, youth hope stepping stone accounts, youth retention incentives, middle-aged hope job incentives, excellent job creation company support, hope growth account incentives, and career interruption women career voucher support. These 20 projects have a budget of 1.7 billion KRW, supporting 995 people annually with job incentives.
Employment and startup support projects provide one-stop support for youth prospective entrepreneurs, including startup funding support, startup education, startup advancement, and employment preparation. Projects include youth startup activity support, youth challenge startup support, youth certification exam fee support, makerspace general and specialized labs operation, social economy enterprise facility and equipment purchase support, social economy enterprise online sales support, agricultural food development online sales startup support, SME e-commerce delivery fee support, youth fishing village settlement support, youth farmer farming settlement support, agricultural product processing startup academy, return-to-farming and fishing startup activation support, and instant food manufacturing and processing startup support. These 17 projects have a budget of 2.1 billion KRW, providing employment and startup opportunities to 629 people annually.
Job infrastructure development projects aim to create jobs by building various social infrastructure and cultural and sports facilities, including core project discovery research, new growth industry promotion comprehensive plan research, Samhyang industrial complex multi-purpose cultural center construction, aviation specialized industrial complex development, Fishing Village New Deal 300 project, fishing village new vitality promotion project, Muan-eup multi-purpose cultural center construction, agricultural worker dormitory construction, agricultural product production distribution center support, agricultural product fulfillment production distribution demonstration center construction, local food production base support, advanced agricultural complex development, mechanized onion infrastructure support, and agricultural product comprehensive processing center operation. These 17 projects have a budget of 19 billion KRW, creating sustainable job projects.
Private sector corporate attraction and support projects include contributions to Jeonnam Credit Guarantee Foundation guarantee funds, interest subsidy support for small business loans, Yellow Umbrella subscription incentives, SME development fund contributions, fostering strong enterprises, smart factory dissemination support, leading root industry enterprise development, industrial complex specialization support, ceramic industry product advancement support, shared studio operation, youth farmer smart farm self-reliance foundation building, smart farm complex development, subtropical crop cultivation pilot projects, and advanced smart farm model pilot projects. These 20 projects have a budget of 3.2 billion KRW, focusing on nurturing and attracting leading companies suited to the region.
Additionally, Muan-gun plans to establish five detailed implementation tasks, supporting 50 projects with 125.6 billion KRW to create 9,732 jobs.
They are taking a commemorative photo after receiving the Grand Prize in the Job Disclosure System category of the 2023 National Local Government Job Awards hosted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. [Photo by Muan-gun]
◇ Muan-gun wins Ministry of Employment and Labor’s top award for regional job target disclosure system two years in a row
In the past two years, Muan-gun has received the top award consecutively (2022?2023) in the regional job target disclosure system category at the nationwide local government job awards hosted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, recognizing its excellent job policies.
The regional job target disclosure system is a policy by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to revitalize local jobs, where local governments autonomously establish job targets and measures and disclose them to residents. By setting and announcing goals in advance for direct job creation, vocational skill development, job infrastructure construction, and private sector support, it helps ensure solid project implementation.
The recently announced “2024 Regional Job Disclosure System Annual Detailed Job Policy Plan” can be found on the Muan-gun official website under notices or on the Regional Employment Information Network website under disclosure status.
County Governor Kim San stated, “The 2024 detailed plan for the second year of the 8th elected administration emphasizes quality jobs, focusing on strengthening professional capabilities and fostering promising companies so that Muan-gun workers can become experts in each industry. We will execute this plan perfectly to create a vibrant and happy Muan where youth gather and workers thrive with soaring jobs.”
Muan = Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Oh Hwan-joo just8440@asiae.co.kr
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