Investing 200 Million KRW in District Budget
to Improve Childcare Helpers' Treatment
Yongsan-gu, Seoul (District Mayor Park Hee-young) announced on the 1st that it will invest 200 million KRW this year to improve the treatment of childcare helpers in order to enhance the stability and quality of the childcare service.
Park Hee-young, Mayor of Yongsan District, is delivering a greeting at the Idolbomyi meeting held in February this year. Provided by Yongsan District.
Accordingly, the average salary for childcare helpers working the existing standard of 80 hours per month is about 1.27 million KRW, but with the treatment improvements applied this year, childcare helpers in Yongsan-gu will receive an average salary increased by about 130,000 KRW to approximately 1.4 million KRW.
According to the district, the average waiting period for Seoul’s childcare service is three months, while Yongsan-gu’s is about one month, which is shorter than the Seoul average. However, to further reduce this waiting period, the district is promoting treatment improvements for childcare helpers using its own budget.
The support prepared by the district for improving childcare helpers’ treatment consists of three types: infant care allowance, activity incentive allowance, and vaccination expenses. The support budget is approximately 212 million KRW, which is the second highest among the 25 autonomous districts in Seoul.
The infant care allowance is available to childcare helpers who are exclusively responsible for infants aged 3 to 36 months. Separately from the existing Seoul city allowance of up to 100,000 KRW per month (with an additional hourly wage of 1,000 KRW), the district will additionally pay up to 80,000 KRW per month (an extra 1,000 KRW per hour). This was established to address the issue of childcare helpers avoiding this relatively demanding work.
The activity incentive allowance is paid in addition to Seoul city’s basic activity allowance (500 to 1,000 KRW per hour), and is differentiated based on monthly working hours: 60,000 KRW for 40 hours or more, 90,000 KRW for 80 hours or more, and 120,000 KRW for 120 hours or more. This was organized for the first time this year to reduce average waiting periods and the number of households waiting, thereby increasing benefits for user households.
Vaccination expenses for childcare helpers are supported up to 50,000 KRW annually. Individuals can claim reimbursement for actual expenses after vaccination.
District Mayor Park Hee-young stated, “Yongsan-gu will continue to support high-quality childcare services without waiting times and become a childcare-friendly city where children can be entrusted with confidence.”
The district is currently recruiting childcare helpers on an ongoing basis regardless of residence restrictions. The recruitment process includes completion of childcare helper training, application, document screening, aptitude and personality tests, interviews, and employment contract.
Childcare helper training must be completed at a Seoul city-designated training institution, and the training fee is 470,000 KRW for 120 hours. A portion of the cost can be reimbursed by using the National Tomorrow Learning Card. For detailed information from application to final employment contract, contact the Yongsan-gu Family Center at 02-797-9186.
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