Recruitment of Youth Part-time Workers and Youth Experience Group with No Educational Restrictions
Human Rights Commission Recommendation Accepted: 'University Students' Changed to 'Youth'
Popular for Gaining Social and Administrative Experience through About 4 Weeks of Work
Guro, Gwanak, Gangnam, Eunpyeong, Seocho Districts Remain Unchanged
The eligibility criteria for the summer vacation 'part-time jobs (administrative experience group, administrative internship)' that previously sparked controversy for giving opportunities only to university students have been expanded from this summer vacation to include unemployed youth in their 20s and 30s without any educational restrictions. However, nearly half of the autonomous districts in Seoul still restrict eligibility to 'university students.'
Most autonomous districts, including Seoul City, recruit part-time participants during the summer and winter vacations so that young people can gain administrative work and social experience. However, until now, the eligibility was limited to university students, which was criticized as educational discrimination by the National Human Rights Commission last year.
In Seoul, only Seongdong District Office removed the educational restriction during the winter vacation part-time recruitment last December, but from this summer vacation recruitment, many district offices including Seoul City have accepted the Human Rights Commission's recommendation and made improvements. Along with this, the title changed from 'university student' to 'youth.'
The 'Youth Part-time Job' involves working about 4 weeks during the vacation period of July to August, 5 days a week, 5 hours a day (25 hours a week), receiving minimum wage or the living wage set by the local government. Although the pay varies slightly by district office, including meal costs and allowances, the total is around 1.4 million KRW. Some district offices like Songpa-gu are very popular, with competition rates reaching 10 to 1.
They are assigned to district offices, community service centers, welfare centers, libraries, museums, youth centers, etc., performing simple administrative assistance, data organization, event support, and other tasks. The purpose is strongly to allow young people to gain social experience and practical public service experience, and 20-30% of the selected participants are given opportunities to people with disabilities, basic livelihood security recipients, low-income groups, children from large or multicultural families, and youth with excellent volunteer records.
By the 10th of this month, Seoul City, along with Geumcheon-gu, Gwangjin-gu, Yongsan-gu, and Songpa-gu, have changed the eligibility from the previous 'university students' to unemployed youth aged 19 to 29 (born between 1994 and 2005). Yeongdeungpo-gu and Gangbuk-gu have significantly expanded the range up to 39 years old, which is beyond the youth age (19-34) defined by the Youth Basic Act.
Some district offices are increasing the utilization and educational effect through district government screenings or idea meetings upon completion. Yeongdeungpo-gu plans to assign promotional tasks such as planning district government promotion methods and producing promotional videos like shorts and experience vlogs, while Songpa-gu will involve youth in discovering idea projects suitable for their perspective through major facility tours and conducting district government research tasks by field.
In January, a district office in Seoul held an orientation for college student part-time workers during the winter vacation.
Among the autonomous districts, Guro-gu, which recruits the largest number of participants, along with Gwanak-gu, Gangnam-gu, Eunpyeong-gu, and Seocho-gu, still restrict eligibility to university students only. Although Gangnam-gu expanded the target through ordinance revision in March, the university student restriction on eligibility remains.
Regarding this, a Guro-gu official said, "We will maintain the past policy until this year and plan to review the eligibility change from next year," and Gwanak-gu also stated, "We are actively reviewing the change."
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