An MOU signing ceremony for the Busan Youth Employment Cooperative First Career Guarantee program is held Tuesday at Busan City Hall. [Busan City]
An MOU signing ceremony for the Busan Youth Employment Cooperative First Career Guarantee program is held Tuesday at Busan City Hall. [Busan City]

As youth employment opportunities continue to shrink, Busan is stepping up with a new program to help young people build their first careers.

The city signed an MOU Tuesday morning at City Hall with Korea South Power and the Busan Regional Office of Small and Medium Venture Enterprises to launch the Busan Youth Employment Cooperative First Career Guarantee pilot program. The initiative — a Busan-style work experience program — is designed to help young people gain meaningful first-career experience at local companies and transition into full employment.

The city will partner with so-called "youth-friendly" companies — firms selected for their appeal to young workers — and connect them with graduates of vocational high schools and junior colleges. Participants will be recruited through a company-youth matching event where job fit is assessed before final selections are made. Those chosen will complete job training and then spend up to four months at a participating company, earning 2 million won ($1,350) per month while gaining hands-on work experience. They will also receive support from dedicated mentors and an onboarding program to help them adjust to the workplace.

Under the agreement, the city will handle overall program management, recruitment and selection of youth-friendly companies, selection of participating youth, job training and youth policy linkage, and performance management. Korea South Power will provide ESG cooperative fund support, run mentoring and onboarding programs for participating companies, and coordinate shared-growth and corporate support initiatives, while the Busan Regional Office of Small and Medium Venture Enterprises ▷will oversee the company-youth matching events ▷and handle linkages between small and medium-sized enterprise support programs — including policy funds and innovation vouchers — and company-youth hiring.

The pilot extends the work experience period from the typical two to three months to four months, providing more substantive on-the-job exposure. After reviewing the results, the city plans to roll out the "Busan Youth First Career Guarantee" initiative in full next year — one of the key campaign pledges of the current administration — offering stable work experience of up to one year.

Mayor Jeon Jae-soo said the most pressing need for young people is a first job, and that creating opportunities for youth to begin their careers in the region is the most important task for securing Busan's future. "We will provide local youth with quality work experience and employment opportunities, and successfully advance the Busan Youth First Career Guarantee program," he said.


kaf2002@heraldcorp.com