Need Strategy to Minimize Welfare Blind Spots in Gyeonggi Province...Local Governments Must Develop Platforms

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] The Gyeonggi Research Institute announced on the 27th that it has published a report titled "Response Plans for Gyeonggi Province in the Era of 'Proactive Welfare Services,'" which examines problems arising from welfare blind spots, analyzes the current state and issues of welfare delivery system efficiency, and draws implications based on the actual usage of the "Bokjiro" welfare portal by Gyeonggi Province residents.

Recently, with an increase in crisis households due to growing polarization, the issue of family suicide related to financial hardship has become severe. Notably, of the 24 cases of family suicide that occurred over the past year, 10 occurred in Gyeonggi Province, with 8 of them classified as subsistence-related suicides, indicating a need for crisis awareness and countermeasures at the provincial level.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to establish a next-generation social security information system by 2022. The plan involves adding a comprehensive social service information system and a community-integrated care platform to the existing social security information system (Happy e-um, whole-of-government system, Bokjiro), advancing linkage with the local health system, and transitioning the paradigm to a big data-based "proactive welfare services."
Following the introduction of the next-generation social security information system, the "Bokjiro" portal is expected to be used by the general public for searching welfare information and applying for services; however, a survey showed that Gyeonggi Province residents' awareness of "Bokjiro" is not particularly high.

According to a survey conducted by the Gyeonggi Research Institute in October 2019 targeting 1,000 married residents aged 30-40 in Gyeonggi Province (confidence level 95%, sample error ±3.1%), 51.8% of respondents were aware of "Bokjiro," 26.2% said they had heard of it, and 22.0% had never heard of it.
The utilization rate and satisfaction with "Bokjiro" were generally high. Among those with experience applying for infant and young child universal welfare services, 60.4% said they had used "Bokjiro" when applying for or changing such services, and when asked about satisfaction, satisfaction (81.2%) was high, followed by general dissatisfaction (9.0%), very satisfied (8.7%), and very dissatisfied (1.1%).
Regarding the direction for improving "Bokjiro," the top responses were "expanding the types of welfare services available for online application" (43.0%), "improving ease of searching for needed welfare services" (25.0%), and "automatic recommendation of applicable welfare services based on personal information input" (10.0%).
Among respondents aware of "Bokjiro," 52.3% were aware of its functions to search welfare system information and explore customized welfare services, but only 39.3% said they visited "Bokjiro" first to obtain information about available welfare services.

Lee Yu-jin, senior researcher at the Gyeonggi Research Institute who conducted the study, stated, "A strategy to minimize welfare blind spots in Gyeonggi Province is necessary in the era of proactive welfare services," and added, "Development of local government platforms that can be linked with the next-generation system at the central government level is needed." Lee further noted, "By enacting Gyeonggi Province ordinances to transition to an inclusive welfare state paradigm and by clarifying the responsibilities and authority of welfare civil servants in proactive administration, we can create an opportunity to spread good precedents to the central government and other local governments."