Gijang County to Support Youth Employment with Exam Fees and Interview Allowances

Application for Unemployed or Startup-Seeking Youth Living in Military Areas: October 1 - December 9

Gijang-gun, Busan, will begin providing support for qualification exam fees and interview allowances for local youth starting this October to facilitate their job search activities.

This initiative is being implemented as part of the '2024 Gijang-gun Youth Policy Implementation Plan' to alleviate the financial burden on young people preparing for employment.

The eligible recipients are unemployed or non-entrepreneurial youth aged 19 to 39 (born between 1984 and 2005) who reside in Gijang-gun as of the announcement date, September 23, 2024.

Only those who have actually taken qualification exams or attended interviews since January 1, 2024, are eligible for support. Applications can be submitted online through the Gijang-gun website from October 1 to December 9.

For qualification exam fees, up to 100,000 KRW per person will be provided. The eligible exams include language proficiency tests, national technical certifications, national professional certifications, and the Korean History Proficiency Test. Support is available to actual test-takers regardless of their results or whether they obtained the certification.

Additionally, young people who attend job interviews can receive an interview allowance of 50,000 KRW per interview, up to twice per year (maximum 100,000 KRW), regardless of whether they pass the interview.

County Governor Jung Jongbok stated, "We will prepare multifaceted support measures for employment and entrepreneurship to nurture the youth who will play a pivotal role in the development of Gijang-gun," and added, "In particular, we will actively address youth job mismatches by establishing a (tentatively named) Job Information Center within Ilgwang Education Happy Town in the future, to facilitate optimal matching between local youth and excellent companies."