Ministry of Industry, Resolves Local Investment Companies' Labor Shortage with 'Quickstart'

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 25th that it held an on-site meeting for the 'Korean-style Quick Start Project' at Sungil Hightech, a specialized company in used battery recycling located in the Saemangeum Industrial Complex in Gunsan, Jeonbuk.

The Korean-style Quick Start Project is a program in which the government and local governments pre-train and supply the necessary workforce in line with the completion of a company's factory to resolve one of the difficulties companies face during local investment, namely the initial labor shortage. After a pilot project last year, this year it plans to train and supply about 220 personnel for around 20 companies.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy explained, "Among the four companies that participated in the pilot project, 69 out of 84 trainees were hired, and both participating companies and trainees showed high satisfaction." The proportion of local residents among the hired personnel was 91%.

Sungil Hightech trained 25 personnel necessary for operating its third factory through the Quick Start last year and deployed them on-site. It plans to participate in this year's project as well and hire an additional 15 people. Lee Dong-seok, President of Sungil Hightech, said, "We are very satisfied from the perspective of business operation because we can hire personnel who understand the production site and can be immediately deployed in line with the completion of the workplace."

Oh Seung-cheol, Director of the Industrial Infrastructure Office at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said, "Since jobs are the key to overcoming local extinction, we will actively support resolving the labor shortage of local investment companies." The Ministry plans to prepare comprehensive project improvement and development plans, including expanding support targets for the project in the second half of this year and strengthening linkage with opportunity development zones, to promote early activation of the Quick Start project.