The increase in average life expectancy, diversification of employment types, and transition to a digital society require a change regarding the idea of life-long employment. Regional employment policies are also moving toward the direction of improvi...
The increase in average life expectancy, diversification of employment types, and transition to a digital society require a change regarding the idea of life-long employment. Regional employment policies are also moving toward the direction of improving the quality of human capital by strengthening individual capabilities and not to the direction of creating short-term jobs. The “Direct Job Program” is a project that provides temporary and transitional jobs to people who are having difficulty being employed through fiscal spending and refers to a labor market program that supports employment in private-sector jobs through work experience.
The “New Gyeonggi Steppingstone Job Project” has been in effect since 2019 as part of the province’s direct job program, and this study lays the groundwork for the continuous and steady promotion of the project and determines ways to improve the effectiveness of the project. To do so, the following were conducted: comparison with similar projects, surveys on participants of the project, and interviews with experts.
The research results are as follows. First, the largest difference between the steppingstone job project and other projects is that the former aims to strengthen qualitative capabilities by helping participants gain work experience rather than quantitative expansion of jobs. Second, the result of the survey indicates that the overall job satisfaction was found to be high, but there are differences in satisfaction and factors that hinder program effectiveness depending on the organization they participated in.
Through interviews with participants and experts, the New Gyeonggi Steppingstone Job Project derived ways to reduce the labor market mismatch in the future and contribute to resolving the unemployment problem in Gyeonggi Province. First, it is necessary to reconsider in ways private entities participate, manage, and run projects. Second, while strengthening the role of the project’s manager, it is possible to consider hiring persons who have participated in the project as managers to cope with the shortage in managerial manpower. Third, it is necessary to secure continuous and secure business promotion by positioning it as part of social investment, and not temporary job creation programs by improving the purpose and performance indicators of the project.