The city of Jeju on South Korea’s largest island of the same name. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju has greatly expanded its spending for job creation amid the accelerating exodus of young people.
The Jeju provincial government said Wednesday it earmarked 5 billion won (US$3.91 million) for next year’s youth job project and will support jobs for 637 young adults.
If selected businesses hire young adults, they can receive annual financial support of up to 24 million won for their personnel costs. The maximum monthly support amount is set at 1.8 million won.
The young adults who participate in the project can get an incentive of 10 million won if they work for more than two years, while being offered educational and consulting support of up to 3 million won per person.
“The youth job project has created jobs for 3,400 young adults since 2018,” an official at the Jeju government said.
In the meantime, the share of young adults in the province’s total population has been on a downward trend, falling to 24.9 percent last year from 28.2 percent in 2011.
The primary factors behind the exodus of young people include jobs (44.9 percent), family (24.3 percent) and education (14.2 percent).
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
