Starting on the 18th of this month, the upper age limit for youth will be unified at 34. The move unifies the age by law to broaden the scope of youth employment policies.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said on the 8th that a revision to the Enforcement Decree of the Special Act on the Promotion of Youth Employment containing these details was reviewed and approved at a Cabinet meeting.
The core of this enforcement decree revision is to delete the separately stipulated youth age standard. The existing decree defined youth as those "aged 15 or older and 29 or younger." However, some public institutions recognized youth up to age 34, causing confusion. Accordingly, going forward, the system will be unified by having the age defined directly in the law.
Earlier, the government also revised the Special Act on the Promotion of Youth Employment to raise, by law, the youth age that is currently stipulated by presidential decree as 15 or older and 29 or younger, and to expand it to 15 or older and 34 or younger.
The ministry said that through this enforcement decree revision, it will secure consistency in the scope of youths targeted by employment policies and more proactively support young people's entry into the labor market.
In addition, the government approved a draft enforcement decree on the establishment and operation of the Government Employee Status Commission at the Cabinet meeting the same day. Starting on the 18th, with the enactment of the law on the establishment and operation of the Government Employee Status Commission, a labor–government consultation framework will be put in place to discuss improvements in treatment for nonregular workers such as government employee status workers in the public sector, fixed-term, dispatched, and subcontracted/service workers, and this measure is intended to back it up.
The draft enforcement decree includes details for the composition and operation of the Government Employee Status Commission. Specifically, it stipulates operational details such as up to 30 members for the working-level committee, up to 20 for the development council, and up to 15 for each sectoral council, as well as the appointment/commissioning of Commissioners and procedures.
The ministry said it expects the measure to help eliminate discrimination against government employee status workers and others, and to support the realization of the law's purpose of improving job quality and enhancing public services.