The Ministry of SMEs and Startups on the 31st, together with the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL), selected and announced 224 "2026 youth job star corporations" that have youth employment records and corporate competitiveness.
The youth job star corporations program has been run annually since 2016 to improve young people's perceptions of small and midsize corporations and to ease job mismatches. After receiving applications from priority-supported corporations, selections are made through a comprehensive evaluation of youth employment records, pay and benefits, employment stability, and profit-generating capacity.
A comparison of the 224 corporations selected this time with general corporations showed strong results in areas such as youth employment growth rate, pay levels, and sales growth rate.
Selected corporations will receive preferential benefits when chosen for government support programs over the next three years, including subsidies for heat wave disaster prevention equipment and support for research personnel at small and midsize corporations. They can also receive various support such as preferential interest rates, participation in job fairs, and support for youth supporters' activities.
Park Yong-sun, head of the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Policy Office at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), said, "Amid ongoing youth job shortages and staffing shortages at small and midsize corporations, we will strengthen support for regional corporations so that many youth job star corporations can be discovered in the regions."