Critics of President Park Geun-hye’s youth employment fund have been bashing the project as being strictly for demonstration purposes, simply intended to show that the government cares about the young, rather than as an effective way to tackle their job issues.

Since the government rolled out the details of the plan Wednesday ― which Park initiated Aug. 15 ― it has become more difficult to argue otherwise.

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, Labor Minister Lee Ki-kwon and Policy Coordinating Minister Choo Kyung-ho unveiled the blueprint of the “Youth Hope Fund” and how it would be used to address the unemployment issue at a media briefing held at the Sejong Government Complex.

The fund, which had gathered roughly 4.3 billion won ($3.7 million) in less than a month since its launch, will be mainly used to cover the blind spots of the government’s existing youth job policies, they said. Occupational training and mentors will be made available for job seekers, while the tentatively named “Youth Hope Academy” will analyze the demands of employers and match them with potential employees.

The “Youth Hope Foundation” will also coordinate private institutes in finding job opportunities overseas.

While youth unemployment in Korea calls for drastic measures, practically all the policies they proudly announced are just a rehash of existing policies. Although the government said it would cover the gaps in the ministerial policies, job mentors, training and job match-making are already being covered by the ministry.

The Labor Ministry even operates the “Youth Employment Academy” that carries out many of the same functions that the Youth Hope Academy is expected to conduct.

“They may have similar names, but they are different in how they are operated. What the government does is a standardized financial support, and the Youth Hope Fund will add to the government support,” said Minister Lee. If a person looking for a job wants to be trained for example, the preexisting policy would cover the training costs, but the fund will cover their living costs, he explained.

But Lee was vague on why the present policies themselves could not be amended to provide sufficient support, and a separate state plan ― under the same name but “different operation” ― is needed.

Funding was another issue. The 4.3 billion won raised so far is about 0.2 percent of the annual 2 trillion won budget spent on youth employment. As the money is spread thinly across most of the policies, it is but a dent in the big picture.

Since the fund relies completely on voluntary donations, it is unclear if the money will keep flowing in, especially beyond the incumbent government. Less than a month after the funding kicked off, there are already reports of banks taking part in the project allegedly pressing their employees to participate.

The much-trumpeted project was initiated by President Park herself ― who was the first donor ― and its participants include Prime Minister Hwang and other high-profile officials who scurried to follow suit.

What many criticized as a publicity stunt was being made amid the administration’s labor market reform push that has faced harsh criticism for being business-friendly.

Minister Choo emphasized that youth employment projects are important regardless of their size, but did not address why time and efforts need to be devoted to launch projects with similar names, purposes and directions that will most likely and inevitably overlap and eventually fizzle out.

Lee said that the original “standardized” policies foster “standardized talents,” and that the addition of the Youth Hope Fund project will help in creating talents that will be competent on the global stage.

But while money is not always the answer, it is difficult to believe that the 4.3 billion won plan will be able to achieve what a 2 trillion won plan was unable to do, especially if the former is a much smaller and less impressive doppelganger of the latter.



By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)