Lee Jae-myung: "Compensation for Those Who Worked Four Years and Those Who Studied at University Four Years Should Be Equal"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park Noh-hun] Gyeonggi Province has decided to establish a cooperative system with the Gyeonggi Province Office of Education and the Central Regional Employment and Labor Administration to support employment of high school graduates and raise their employment rates.

On the 4th, Governor Lee Jae-myung of Gyeonggi Province signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Superintendent of Education Lee Jae-jung and Director General Lee Hun-soo of the Central Regional Employment and Labor Administration at the Gyeonggi Province Government Office.

This MOU was signed to ensure continuity of employment support policies among institutions for high school graduates through information exchange and networking among agencies, thereby providing efficient employment support.

Governor Lee Jae-myung said, "My constant concern regarding youth issues has always been why people are not evaluated based on competence and are instead discriminated against," and continued, "Productivity and capability are truly important, but when wage discrimination is made based on formal academic credentials, it is regrettable because people end up attending unnecessary universities, which leads to national capacity loss, increased financial burden, and in a sense, a waste of individual lives."

He further stated, "The large wage gap based on academic credentials seems to be a key cause of university hierarchies, entrance exam problems, and distorted educational environments in primary and secondary schools. If there is just a belief that results from four years of skill-building and effort can be comparable to or even better than the compensation for those who attended university for four years, people will not choose the indirect route. Through this MOU, I hope to not only create many opportunities for young people who graduate from high school and find employment, but also to build such a world, and Gyeonggi Province will actively cooperate."

Superintendent of Education Lee Jae-jung said, "This occasion will be an important turning point for Gyeonggi Province, the Gyeonggi Province Office of Education, and the Central Regional Employment and Labor Administration to work together to support high school graduates in opening the path to their futures and systematically pave the way," and added, "The Office of Education plans to strengthen related education so that students can further secure technical skills in their desired workplaces or fields of interest during their school years."

Director General Lee Hun-soo of the Central Regional Employment and Labor Administration said, "I will do my best so that ongoing projects by the Employment and Labor Administration, such as job fairs and employment support programs, create synergy with projects conducted by Gyeonggi Province and the Office of Education to achieve good results."

According to the MOU, Gyeonggi Province will actively promote employment policies such as advancing high school employment activation projects and providing enterprise recruitment referral support, while the Gyeonggi Province Office of Education will operate customized education programs for regional talent development, including Gyeonggi-type apprenticeship education and on-site training.

The Central Regional Employment and Labor Administration plans to actively cooperate in promotion and support of youth employment and labor policies, enterprise-high school recruitment and employment support, and expansion of youth work experience opportunities.

Furthermore, the three agencies plan to cooperate jointly on ▲establishing a system to support high school graduate employment ▲cooperating in talent development for regional talent recruitment ▲providing information on high school graduate recruitment by excellent enterprises ▲discovering joint promotional brands, and other initiatives.

Meanwhile, company representatives and vocational high school graduates also attended the MOU signing ceremony and shared diverse opinions.

Kim Tae-wan, CEO of Uwon Technology, said, "When running a company, nurturing technicians is the most difficult part," and added, "If national incentive programs are expanded so that high school graduates can find employment immediately and the company can continuously care for them, we will be able to develop excellent engineers."

Lee Han-saem, who graduated from Gyeonggi Automotive Science High School and is currently employed at an automobile sales and comprehensive service company, said, "Students who graduated from high school and found employment are not guaranteed reinstatement after military service. Rather than wasting that time, many students choose to attend university to build their resume. I hope reinstatement after military service is institutionalized," and added, "I hope the nation supports young people so that they can work at small and medium enterprises, pursue self-development, and work toward their dreams, even with lower incomes."

Meanwhile, the province is implementing a high school employment activation project that provides certification exam fee support, job training, employment capacity enhancement education, employment mentoring, and employment linkage for students at vocational high schools (specialized high schools, meister schools, comprehensive high schools, etc.) within the province.

The support was expanded from 42 schools and 1,559 students last year to 50 schools and 2,000 enrolled students this year.

Additionally, the province has set a goal to prioritize the recruitment of 15 high school graduates (20%) out of 75 participants in the Gyeonggi Youth Job Matching Employment Support Project, and is also reviewing plans to give additional points in excellent enterprise certification evaluation criteria for the recruitment of vocational high school and general high school (employment track) graduates.