Gwangju to Cover Vacation Fund Share for Small-Firm Workers, a First in South Korea

Gwangju Metropolitan City will become the first local government in South Korea to use its own budget to directly subsidize vacation funds for workers at small and midsize companies in the city.

The Korea Tourism Organization said it signed a business agreement on Wednesday with the Gwangju city government and the Gwangju Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the “Vacation Plus” program for small-company workers in the region.

The program will cover 350 manufacturing workers in Gwangju. Under the existing Worker Vacation Support Program, a total of 400,000 won is saved, with workers contributing 200,000 won, their companies 100,000 won and the government 100,000 won.

Under the new agreement, Gwangju will pay the full worker share (200,000 won) and half of the company share (50,000 won). As a result, workers can secure 400,000 won in vacation funds with no out-of-pocket spending.

Kim Seok, head of the KTO’s National Tourism Office, said the partners plan to expand the cooperation model to other regions in the second half of this year.

Jeon Eun-young, a director at the Gwangju Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the effort is the first attempt to strengthen worker welfare through cooperation between a local government and a regional economic group, and is expected to improve the quality of life for manufacturing workers.




* This article has been translated by AI.

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