Yeongju City to Operate Daily-Based Public Seasonal Worker Center Starting on the 19th

A Blessing Amid Labor Shortages During the Busy Farming Season

Farmers Hope for Reduced Labor Costs

Yeongju City in North Gyeongsang Province has launched a 'daily-based' public seasonal labor center to alleviate the burden on farms and address labor shortages during the busy farming season.

On the 16th, the city held a welcoming ceremony for public seasonal workers from Thai Binh Province, Vietnam, and will officially begin operating the public seasonal labor center in cooperation with Anjeong Nonghyup (headed by Son Gieul) starting on the 19th.

The public seasonal labor program is a system in which the local agricultural cooperative directly employs workers, and farms hire labor for short periods through the cooperative.

Since workers stay in shared accommodation facilities, the burden on farms is less compared to the traditional employment method where farms directly provide room and board and hire workers for a set period. In particular, the ability to hire workers on a daily basis is receiving strong support from small-scale and family-run farms.

Earlier this year, the city completed revisions to the supplementary agreement and scheduling arrangements with Thai Binh Province to attract public seasonal workers.

In June, a working group was dispatched to Vietnam to conduct agricultural tests, in-depth interviews, and local training, successfully selecting 30 workers for the public seasonal labor center and completing visa issuance.

Together with Anjeong Nonghyup, the city also visited Hyomaru Rural Experience Village (headed by Ahn Wooseok, located in Yongsang-ri, Anjeong-myeon), a shared accommodation facility, to thoroughly inspect the lodging and amenities to ensure that seasonal workers using the center for three months would have no inconveniences.

According to the city, the usage fee for the public seasonal labor center is 100,000 KRW per day, and farms can request labor on a daily basis. Working hours are from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (with a break from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.), and an additional fee of about 10,000 KRW per hour applies for overtime.

This rate is considered affordable compared to neighboring public seasonal labor centers, and the city expects it will significantly reduce the labor cost burden on farms.

Mayor Park Namseo stated, "The public seasonal labor center will meet the diverse needs of farms that find it difficult to directly employ seasonal workers or require short-term labor due to crop characteristics," adding, "Next year, we will prepare to further expand the scale of the public foreign seasonal labor center."

This year, the public seasonal labor center is scheduled to operate until November 8. Farms in need of labor can contact Anjeong Nonghyup for assistance.