Gyeonggi Province Supports Unemployed Youth with Up to 300,000 Won for Language and Certification Exam Fees

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gap-dong] Gyeonggi Province announced on the 28th that it will implement the 'Gyeonggi Youth Capacity Enhancement Opportunity Support Project,' which provides up to 300,000 won in support for unemployed youth to cover language and certification exam fees and course tuition.

This project is one of the youth planning series in the eighth civilian government term, with 30 cities and counties participating, excluding Seongnam City, which is implementing its own program. This year, in addition to exam fees, course tuition will be covered with actual expenses, and applicants can apply without restrictions on whether they received support last year, number of attempts, number of courses, or number of applications, within 300,000 won per person.

Applicants must be Gyeonggi Province residents based on the application date and be of youth age as of the year of support (based on birth year and the youth age as specified in each city or county ordinance). The project targets unemployed youth, but for exam fees, applicants only need to be unemployed at the time of the exam, and for course tuition, they only need to be unemployed from the course start date to completion date. Employment status at the time of this project application is irrelevant. Those who are employed but have worked for less than one year are considered unemployed.

Among the supported fields, exam fees cover a total of 909 types: 19 types of language tests, Korean history, 545 types of national technical qualifications, 248 types of national professional qualifications, and 96 types of nationally recognized private qualifications. This year adds 248 national professional qualifications compared to last year. Among national professional qualifications, only the special driving license (Class 1) for automobile driving license is supported. For course tuition, the coursework related to supported exam fields must be taken at academies registered with the Office of Education under the Private Academies Act or at vocational training facilities. For the Class 1 special driving license, support is limited to courses taken at automobile driving (professional) academies registered and designated by provincial police agencies.

Exam fees cover those taken from December 2023 to November 2024, while course tuition will have ordinance provisions established by June, with application acceptance beginning in July and retroactively supporting actual expenses for course tuition incurred from January this year onwards.

Application periods are May to November for exam fees and July to November for course tuition. However, course tuition application periods vary by city and county, so applicants should check the announcements of their respective cities and counties.

Applicants must note that participation in similar projects by the central government, other institutions (local governments, schools, academies, etc.), such as the National Employment Support System, will result in exclusion from support eligibility. However, for the Ministry of Employment and Labor's 'Card for Tomorrow's Learning' and 'Youth National Technical Qualification Exam Fee Support,' support for personal burden amounts is available.

Applications can be made through the Job Foundation Integrated Application System 'Jobaba Apply' (apply.jobaba.net), and payments will be made sequentially by each city and county staff as they verify documents in application order.

As a matching project between the province and cities/counties, this year's total project budget is 4.4 billion won, with an expected 24,300 youth benefiting. Project budgets vary by city and county, and support will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis until the budget is exhausted. Ten cities and counties, including Yongin, will allocate budgets for the first and second half of the year. The 'Gyeonggi Youth Capacity Enhancement Opportunity Support Project,' which began last year, provided exam fee support to 28,157 youth over the year.

Lee In-yong, director of the Youth Opportunity Division, stated, "Supporting exam and course fees goes beyond simply addressing temporary financial burdens and is an important factor that can lead to employment. This year marks the second year of the project, and we have significantly lowered the eligibility barriers, so we hope it will help more youth secure employment."