Gyeonggi Province Opens 'Job Policy Market' Focused on COVID-19 Prevention with 3 Billion Won in Provincial Budget

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun, Reporter] Gyeonggi Province is implementing the '2021 Job Policy Market' in cooperation with 31 municipalities to discover new job creation projects to overcome employment difficulties triggered by COVID-19.

The 'Job Policy Market' is a project in which Gyeonggi Province purchases (provides provincial budget support for) job creation projects directly discovered by municipalities that have high job creation effects and effectively leverage regional characteristics. It was first introduced in 2019.

Over the two years from 2019 to 2020, 6.4 billion won was invested, resulting in the discovery of 22 new projects such as the 'Suwon Paldal Nursery Harmony Project' which hires married immigrant women to assist communication among multicultural families' children, and the 'Hanam Home-Visit Dementia Cognitive Enhancement Learning Assistant Project' which trains personnel to strengthen cognitive abilities of dementia patients, achieving the creation of approximately 500 jobs.

This year, the province plans to invest a total of 3 billion won in the Job Policy Market. To this end, recruitment for new projects from municipalities is being conducted from January 15 to 29.

The recruitment targets are job creation projects independently discovered by each municipality that reflect the local job environment and job demands by field and demographic group. A screening committee will be held in February to select supported projects considering effectiveness, originality, project appropriateness, and plan excellence.

Projects selected through the market receive provincial budget support of up to 300 million won. In the first year of selection, 100% of total project costs are supported, and in subsequent years, if the project is selected as an excellent project based on implementation results, 70% of provincial budget is provided in the second year and 50% in the third year.

In particular, this year, considering the special circumstances of COVID-19, bonus points are given to projects that can contribute to preventing COVID-19 spread during selection. Furthermore, a mandatory requirement to allocate 5% of the total budget to cover quarantine supplies for participants ensures thorough preparation for the COVID-19 situation.

Participants in job creation projects discovered through the Job Policy Market will receive the 2021 Gyeonggi Province minimum living wage (10,540 won per hour).

Hyun Byung-cheon, Director of the Job and Economic Policy Division, said, "Job discovery projects are a very important task in a situation where the economy has contracted due to COVID-19," and added, "Since Gyeonggi Province has diverse employment environments in different regions, we will make efforts for municipalities to discover and implement job creation projects that leverage regional characteristics."