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제 8 호 Heavy Work in Youth Is Rest in Old Age?

  • 작성일 2020-12-05
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Kicker: SOCIETY (FINANCE)


Heavy Work in Youth Is Rest in Old Age?

Youth Poverty Problem and Related Policies



by Sol-Hyang Park, Reporter

cookie7152@naver.com


  There is a saying that "Heavy work in youth is quiet rest in old age." It means that if you experience hard and difficult things in your youth, you can gain experience and live a better life later. However, it is questionable whether such a saying is for the current generation of young people who are living in an unfavorable environment where poverty is becoming more entrenched than in the past.



1. The Youth Poverty

  The current youth, who have the best qualifications in history due to their high college entrance rates, are facing difficult times. In Korean society, where college graduation has become mandatory, the majority of young people start their careers by paying off their student loans. Even if one barely gets a job, what young people first meet in the real society is continual restructuring, an unstable labor market, and rising housing prices. 



  According to the report by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs in 2017, the poverty rate between the ages of 25 to 29 has been rising steadily from 4.7% in 2013, 5.9% in 2014 and 7.1% in 2015. Moreover, once poor young people are very likely to remain in poverty. In fact, the relative income poverty rate of young people aged 19 to 34 was 6.7% in 2006, and the poverty rate was 6.3% in 2015 when they turned 28 to 43. As a result, once poor young people are not easy to get out of poverty no matter how much effort they make. What policies has the government introduced to solve these youth poverty problems?


2. Youth Income Guarantee System\

  To solve the problem of youth poverty, Seoul and Gyeonggi Province introduced 'Youth Allowance' and 'Youth Basic Income'. In the case of Gyeonggi-do Province, all young people aged 24 are paid unconditionally. In the case of Seoul, the benefits vary depending on the qualification requirements like young people aged 19 to 34 who are unemployed or those who are more than two years old after graduation. It is seemingly a clean and good policy. 

  However, there is a common problem with both policies. Among young people, if they are recipients of national basic livelihood security, the government takes it as a double payment, so they are excluded from benefits. Seoul officials tried to allow basic livelihood recipients to receive youth allowances, but the Ministry of Health and Welfare said it was difficult. It is a welfare policy that goes against equity. In other words, the poorer the person is, the more isolated he or she is from welfare.


3. Young Tomorrow Deduction 

  “The Young Tomorrow Deduction (청년내일채움공제)” policy has been implemented since July, 2016 to promote the inflow of unemployed young people (ages 15 to 34) into small businesses, to support long service and assets building for young people employed in small businesses, and to ease wage gaps with large companies. There are two-year and three-year forms. In the case of the two-year form, if a young person (aged 15-34) who is employed for the first time in a company that has joined the Youth Tomorrow Fill Deduction pays a total of 3 million (1.25 million per month) for two years, he can receive 16 million and (+interest) two years later. In the case of the three-year form, if one pays a total of 6 million (1.65million per month) for three years, he can receive 30 million. Only young people who are employed by companies certified as "root companies" can join.



  While it may serve the purpose of maintaining long service for young people and raising lump sum money, one of the challenges is that the workplace is small businesses. Workplaces can be very poor and disastrous. Young people should have to choose the company carefully. The moment you are simply blinded by money, you are bound to regret it. In fact, the project is not only for young people but also for small businesses. All conditions could not be met only by young workers. It is inevitable for young people to endure hard working hours.


4. The Youth Business Internship System

  "The Youth Business Internship System (청년취업인턴제)" enhances the possibility of full-time employment for unemployed young people through internships by supporting part of the company's labor costs for up to one year. It is for unemployed young people (aged 15-34). The process is five step : applying for personal internships → examination of qualifications → job matching and counseling → pre-job training → internship. It seems to be a good policy for young people preparing for employment. However, judging from the annual surge in youth unemployment, it seems not to have much effect. This is expected to continue with the Corona crisis.

  I pointed out the main government policies for young people. In addition, there are several other policies supporting tuition and housing expenses for young people. Also, large companies, such as POSCO, are actively supporting young people. Please make sure to look into the benefits you can receive through these links. Even if the benefits are minimal, it would be better than not knowing!

(https://www.korea.kr/special/policyCurationView.do?newsId=148864193&pWise=main&pWiseMain=K3)

(http://youth.posco.com/posco/edu/index.php?mod=education&pag=education01)


  Major policies for young people mostly focus on only employment. Even this is doubtful of effectiveness. The youth welfare policies should be integrated in terms of income, employment, assets and housing. Young people should be a practical subject of welfare, as they are the major growth engines in the future.I hope that young people will be rewarded later as much as they have suffered.


Sources :

https://www.pressian.com/pages/articles/264439#0DKU

https://newsroom.posco.com/kr/%EC%B2%AD%EB%85%84-%EB%81%9D%EB%82%A0-%EB%95%8C%EA%B9%8C%EC%A7%80-%EB%81%9D%EB%82%9C-%EA%B2%8C-%EC%95%84%EB%8B%88%EB%8B%A4/

https://www.ytn.co.kr/_ln/0102_202010131728326438

https://www.sbcplan.or.kr/main.do?introGbn=02

http://repository.kihasa.re.kr/bitstream/201002/20831/1/2017.2%20No.244.02.pdf