Exclusive: 42% of Participants in South Korea’s Billion-Won Employment Program Still Have No Job

More than four in 10 people who joined South Korea’s National Employment Support System last year failed to find work, despite the program receiving more than 1 trillion won in public funds.

Data obtained by the office of People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won from the Ministry of Employment and Labor showed that 309,514 people applied to the program last year. Of them, 180,843 found jobs, producing an employment rate of 58.4%. The remaining 128,671 participants did not secure employment.

The system supports young people, low-income job seekers and other vulnerable groups who struggle to qualify for unemployment benefits. It combines employment-support services with a monthly job-seeking allowance of 600,000 won and is described as a South Korean version of unemployment assistance.

The program received a budget of 1.0109 trillion won last year. Its employment rate has remained in the 50% range in every year except its launch year in 2021, when it stood at 68.1%. The figures have prompted criticism that the system is becoming a route to living-cost assistance, while the government repeatedly raises job-seeking payments instead of strengthening employment support.