The government announced the plan on the 29th at a public-private Youth New Deal briefing chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yun-cheol, in a joint release with related ministries.
Under the advancement track, the government will provide job training and education programs to 19,000 young people through private companies and universities. It will also launch the “K-New Deal Academy,” a 10,000-person program designed and run directly by private companies that hire, offering training for jobs in areas such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors, as well as youth-preferred fields including finance and content.
Companies will also run voluntary programs such as psychological and career counseling and workplace adjustment support. Young people facing barriers to employment, including long-term unemployment, will be given priority in selection. Companies and participants outside the Seoul metropolitan area will receive preferential support for training costs and participation allowances.
Short, intensive university courses previously limited to enrolled students will be linked to a “Youth Advancement Talent Boot Camp” and opened to 4,000 job-seeking young people who are not currently students. Two tracks — advanced-talent and practical-talent — will offer level-based curricula tailored from non-majors to majors.
The experience track will expand work-experience programs by 22,000 slots and centrally manage participation records to support practical, job-relevant career building. In the public sector, the government will newly hire 9,500 staff to verify the status of delinquent national taxes and non-tax revenues and pursue tailored collection by debtor type. It will also hire 4,000 workers for a comprehensive farmland survey, including building databases to curb farmland speculation and track ownership and use.
New programs will allow 2,500 young people to gain experience in social solidarity economy organizations — including social enterprises, village enterprises and cooperatives — in areas such as care, culture and the environment. The government also plans to expand public-institution youth internships by 3,000 from last year.
In the private sector, the government will create or expand job-linked courses in youth-preferred fields such as tourism, content, culture and arts, and digital. It will also increase existing private work-experience programs by 1,500, focusing on in-demand internship-type placements and environmental, social and governance support roles.
Participation records in Youth New Deal programs will be integrated and issued through an online platform, Employment 24, so they can be recognized as official experience in the job market.
Under the recovery track, the government will run a close-support program covering the full cycle from counseling and daily-life recovery to job training and employment. It will expand Youth Future Centers that provide tailored services from four to 17 locations, and increase by 1,000 the Youth Challenge Support Program for young people who have given up job searching.
Additional recovery programs — including parent and family relationship education and economic camps — will be offered to a total of 11,000 participants.
To support job searches and hiring, the government will also redesign and upgrade youth employment support infrastructure. It will create a youth-focused track within the National Employment Support System and expand support, including job-search promotion allowances, to 30,000 more people.
The government will broaden eligibility for the Youth Job Leap Subsidy — which pays up to 7.2 million won each to youth-hiring companies and to young workers who stay long term — from mid-sized firms in non-metropolitan industrial complexes to all mid-sized firms outside the Seoul metropolitan area. It will also expand low-interest loan support for young small business owners or small business owners who hire young people.
A ministry official said the plan is expected to provide employment-related services to about 100,000 young people. “The government will prepare the programs without disruption so young people can quickly benefit from these measures,” the official said.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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