The Youth New Start Project is designed to promote employment among youth aged between 15 and 29 who have had difficulties in finding a job, by providing a personalized comprehensive employment support service from career guide to job placement, so that youth can develop the capabilities to design a career path that meets their aptitude.
Table 15 shows the details of the participants. A candidate for the support project should be a youth seeking a job, aged between 15 and 29 (or 32 if they have completed military service, and not receiving unemployment benefits. Also, the candidate should be 1) a youth who did not go to college (including college or polytech dropouts), or 2) a youth who has had difficulties in finding a job longer than 6 months after college graduation or unemployment (excluding persons who graduated from a graduate school), or 3) a youth who was recommended or requested by the youth organization or related organization, or 4) an unemployed youth not belonging to any school or vocational training center.
<Table 15> Types of Youth New Start Project participants
Participant Judgment criteria
The unemployed who did not go to college
- Youth who did not go to college (including college and polytech dropouts) and are not employed.
An
※ enrolled student who will graduate next February will also be included in this category.
Long-term job seekers - Youth who are unemployed for 6 months or longer after graduation or losing their job
Youth in crisis - School dropouts, and youth who are exposed to various risks such as running away from home, violence, abuse, crime, prostitution, and youth recommended or requested by the related agency
NEET - Youth who did not attend a training course or did not work over the last 2 years, and gave up looking for work or worked for short time periods repetitively (youth who worked as a day worker or short-term worker)
Others
- When a related agency like a school or social welfare center requested their participation, or the center manager recognized the necessity of their participation, considering local circumstances
Youth New Start Project participants can receive the comprehensive employment support service. The service providing organization is a public agency (Employment Assistance Center) and a private outsourced agency selected through a public contest and review prescribed by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and commissioned with overall operations of the New Start Project.
The program is composed of three phases. Depending on the characteristics of the project participant, the participant can pass all three phases, or can participate in only one phase, or participate in phase 1 and 2, or phase 1 and 3.
Phase 1 is composed of diagnosis and path setting for each participant. Normally, it takes three to six weeks. During this phase, the advisor performs customized individual consulting
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for about one month to find vulnerabilities and overcoming methods, and nurtures employment capabilities, such as job seeking techniques. During phase 1, participants decide on their career path and set up an IAP (Individual Action Plan) through participation in various vocational psychological testing procedures, like vocational preference checks, aptitude tests, in-depth consultation, and a vocational career guidance program. In particular, phase 1 is important in deciding on a career suitable for the participant, recovering confidence in finding a job and encouraging discouraged participants to find a job. When the participant completes phase 1, a participation benefit of 300,000 won is paid.
Phase 2 lasts between two to six months, and is the will and capacity promotion period. In phase 2, participants can take part in various programs according to the participant’s aptitude and capability, as well as the IAP identified in phase 1.
If understanding and experiences in the workplace are required, the youth can participate in a workplace experience program. If enhancement is required, vocational training can be provided, and the participant can perform Steppingstone Work, which means working for non-profit organizations, or an SME youth internship. When the participants involve in the youth workplace experience program, training benefits (500,000 won per month) are granted, and around a 2 million won training account is given to the vocational training participants.
In addition, participants of the SME youth internship or Steppingstone Workcan be paid during the participation period.
[Figure 7] Support details by phase
Diagnosis/Career setting (3 – 6 weeks)
Will and capability promotion
Concentration/
Job placement (3 months)
Employment encouragement
benefit New employment promotion subsidy
Employ- ment/
start-up
* Individual consultation
* Vocational psychological testing
* Career guidance program
* IAP (Individual Action Plan) establishment
* Mutual obligation contract
* Vocational training
* Training voucher
* Workplace experience
* SME youth internship
* Steppingstone Work
Concentrated job placement/Job interview companion
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<Table 16> Support contents of the phase 2 program Type Youth workplace
experience program Training voucher SME youth internship Steppingstone Work
Purpose of support
Obtain understanding and experiences in the workplace
To support
participants who need to improve their vocational competency to participate in vocational capability development training voluntarily
To develop the vocational capability and provide an opportunity to make a career by
experiencing an internship in the SME
To provide an opportunity for work at a non-profit organization like a local community NGO, supporting movement to a better job
Supporting period
- Public agency, Educational institution : 1 - 2 months - Social work organization (non- profit): 1 - 4 months - Private company: 1 -
6 months
As a rule, the account is used one time before employment.
The account validity period is one year after issuance.
Support for 6 months, and another 6 months if changed to a permanent job
3 - 5 months (5 working days a week) depending on the job characteristics
Support contents
A 500,000 won training allowance is granted to the trainee (participant).
Around a 2 million won training voucher is given to the trainee (participant). (Some youth do not have upper limits.)
Supporting 50% of the fixed salary (up to 800,000 won) to a business owner who hired an intern, and support of 650,000 won for 6 months, if an internship is changed to a permanent job.
730,000 won is paid if the participant is working 35 hours a week.
Phase 3 is the concentrated job placement phase, and lasts for three months. In phase 3, the youth participant makes practical preparations for employment through learning job seeking techniques, such as practicing resume and self-introduction letter writing, and job interview guidance.
In addition, considering the participant’s aptitude and capability identified during phases 1 and 2, jobs are searched for the participant actively, and active employment support activities are performed, such as company visits, interview help, news provisioning like employment exhibition, participation in meeting days, and searching for proper job opportunities.
On the other hand, this project is implemented in line with the employment subsidy project.
If a business owner hires a young jobseeker that completed phase 3 through a job replacement, a new youth employment promotion subsidy is given. For the first six months after employment, 450,000 won is paid, and 300,000 won is paid for the following six months (600,000 won for the first six months and 300,000 for the following six months for the small and medium-sized manufacturers employing less than 500 employees,). For small and medium-sized manufacturers that are avoided by jobseekers due to a low wages, employment promotion benefits of 300,000 won per month is paid for each project participant who completes more than 1 phase for 12 months (up to 3.6 million won).
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<Table 17> Overview of the employment promotion (encouragement) subsidy
Type New youth employment promotion subsidy Employment promotion benefit
Purpose of support
To prevent structural deterioration of unemployment and promote employment of the vulnerable class, by giving a subsidy to a business owner hiring youth (under 29 years old) who cannot get a job under normal conditions in the labor market
Gives a grant to a person who is hired by a small and medium business that is avoided by jobseekers due to low wages, as an incentive
Supporting period
A person who satisfies the criteria
announced by the Minister of Employment and Labor, and is under 29 years old and experiences difficulties in getting a job due to low educational background, experience, and vocational skills
A person who is hired by a small and medium-sized manufacture that is avoided by jobseekers due to low wages, after completing phase 1 or more of the Youth New Start Project, through support of the Employment Assistance Center or a private outsourced agency
Support contents
At least 450,000 won for six months after employment and 300,000 won is paid for the following six months (600,000 won for the first six months and 300,000 for the following six months for manufacturers employing under 500 employees)
300,000 won per month was paid for each person for 12 months in 2009 (up to 3.6 million won).
The Youth New Start Project was introduced in 2008, and can be regarded as the development and inheritance of YES (Youth Employment Service), introduced in 2006 as a model. The project details of the YES Program are similar to those of the Youth New Start Project in that a career path was chosen and job-seeking techniques were improved through a vocation guidance program depending on personal circumstances, and comprehensive service (e.g., job placement) was supported. According to Noh K R et al. (2008), the uniform service presented in the YES standard Manual is provided in the field, but links between phases are not sufficient. Noh K R et al. concluded that the program could achieve the objectives initially pursued only when the system prepared the youth completely for work in the field (e.g., by encouraging the participant to complete all three phases). Considering that the Youth New Start Project was started when the circumstances were better than YES Program, we should expect more positive results.
The Youth New Start Project was operated after combining with the Successful Employment Package since 2011. The Successful Employment Package was introduced in 2009 to support the employment of the low-income class systematically. Targets of the Successful Employment Package were classified into four types, and youth belong to the second type.
Table 18 shows the project implementation results. In 2009, 16,660 persons participated in the New Start Project, and about 16,850 million won was spent, which was a sharp increase from 2008 (3,263 persons and 1 billion won). One of the reasons for this result might be the global financial crisis in 2008. The project size was reduced to some extent in 2010 when the economy recovered from the global financial crisis. For reference, the budget does not include the grant given when participating in a phase 2 project or in employment promotion (encouragement) benefits.
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<Table 18> Results of the Youth New Start Project implementation
(Unit: million won, person)
Year Budget Number of participants
2008 1,000 3,263 2009 16,850 16,660 2010 9,185 12,549