Simplification of Employment Insurance Premium Support Procedures for Small Business Owners... "Strengthening the Social Safety Net"

Ministry of SMEs and Startups Signs Business Agreement with Ministry of Employment, Sozincorp, and Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service
Plans to Revise Related Regulations and Forms in the Second Half of the Year

The application procedure for employment insurance premium support for small business owners will be simplified.

Garak Agricultural Market, Songpa-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yongjun Cho jun21@

On the 29th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it signed a business agreement with three organizations?the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service, and the Small Enterprise and Market Service?at Dream Square in Seoul.

This agreement was established to improve the application process for employment insurance premium support for small business owners through inter-agency collaboration, alleviating inconveniences during the insurance premium support application process and strengthening the social safety net by expanding employment insurance coverage.

Previously, when small business owners newly enrolled in the "Self-Employed Employment Insurance" with the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service, they had to separately apply for employment insurance premium support with the Small Enterprise and Market Service. To improve the situation where small business owners apply separately for self-employed employment insurance enrollment and premium support, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Ministry of Employment and Labor plan to allow small business owners to submit the employment insurance premium support application together when newly enrolling in self-employed employment insurance with the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service. The Small Enterprise and Market Service will review eligibility criteria such as small business owner status and premium payment records as before and provide premium support accordingly.

To this end, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Ministry of Employment and Labor will revise related regulations and forms in the second half of this year. The Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service and the Small Enterprise and Market Service will each upgrade the self-employed employment insurance enrollment system and the employment insurance premium support application system by October, aiming to enable simultaneous application for self-employed employment insurance enrollment and premium support in the fourth quarter.

Additionally, to help closed small business owners restart through reemployment, the linkage between the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Ministry of Employment and Labor projects will be strengthened. A specialized employment support program for closed small business owners will be operated using the National Employment Support System, which provides comprehensive employment support services to job seekers. Furthermore, if small business owners wishing to be reemployed apply to participate in the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' Hope Return Package project and consent to it, their information will be linked to the Ministry of Employment and Labor's electronic network (Workplus) to enable prompt support.

For small business owners currently operating businesses, Polytech University will conduct a specialized capacity-building program to foster a skilled environment for small business owners.

Kim Seong-seop, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "We expect that simplifying the application procedure for insurance premium support will provide practical help to small business owners," adding, "We will continue to develop and implement various policies to strengthen the social safety net for small business owners through inter-ministerial cooperation."