Welfare means harmony of good health, abundant life and comfortable surroundings. According to this definition, welfare should include all the people of a nation. As a member of society, you have the right to feel happiness from this harmonization. To enjoy life however, we need income. To earn money we need jobs. Acquiring jobs is one of the main reasons why youth (university students aged 20s) study, sacrificing their time and their youth at school. So it goes without saying that in order to improve the welfare of today’s youth, jobs need to be established in our employment system.
Recently, because of a bad economy, many people have lost their jobs and the quantity of jobs being offered by companies has decreased steadily. In this situation, young graduates are feeling the anxiety over the stress of finding a job. Ulsan, an industrial powerhouse at one time, with many factories, plants and companies, cannot provide enough employment in these troubled economic times. Trying to solve this problem, Ulsan is striving to increase jobs, yet the gains in employment are still extremely low. Students, with support and funding are working hard to gain certificates, learn foreign languages and prepare for job interviews; however, many are still unemployed. Many of today’s young graduates are asking the question…“is Ulsan really a good city for youth, just like us to live in?
Creating employment is the goal, how we can do this though, has caused a division in our local government. First for youths who want to be employed, Ulsan has created jobs at some public institutions and companies. Efforts have been made to increase jobs to lower the unemployment rate. This is being accomplished by transferring public institutions in order to establish the so called ‘Ulsan innovation city’. Another step is by providing internships at local companies, Ulsan has been conducting a program called ‘Youth Intern Supporting Business’ since 2010. This business initiative gives 1,000,000 won every month when an ‘outstanding employment company’ employs a youth as an intern. Also, this business provides additional incentives for five months when a company offers a permanent contract position to a youth intern. Through this business, 403 out of 669 interns have become permanent workers. Ulsan has also been conducting an ‘Ulsan Youth CEO Promotion Business’ and an ‘Ulsan Personal Company Business Center’ for six years. Through this, young graduates can get support for rooms, expenses, education and consulting. Depending on their performance, they can be supported with work expenses.
Despite Ulsan’s efforts, there are still problems. The Internship business is conducted through an application system and those companies are small and medium sized enterprises. Also, Ulsan’s support is centered on the establishment of these programs, yet the amount of jobs created by Ulsan Human Resources for university students is still relatively low. Also, public institutions are not employing Ulsan youth although Ulsan’s local government had required that they do employ local youth.
Then, what about other cities? Just like Ulsan, Daegu’s local human resource employment rate is not that high even though public institutions are transferring. Daegu, however, is pursuing diversity in business to support the different areas in order to create employment. Also, they have started a ‘public institution suited human resource promoting academy’. The youth of Daegu can get various services like preparing for a job ability test, aptitude test and portfolio to be employed in public institutions. Also, Daegu provides jobs through a M.O.U. (Memorandum of Understanding) with local companies by developing local specialized industry by constructing industry clusters. For youth who want to work in other fields, Daegu offers support in various ways for started academies. Although Ulsan is trying to provide more jobs, there is the problem of inefficiency in the system. This has led to the cause of citizen’s regret. Providing jobs is good, however, Ulsan should expand and support new businesses fields for Ulsan’s youth, so that can be well suited to the jobs they want.
Recently, many local universities are reinforcing competitiveness by training local human resources mangers in joint research, lab and corporation invitation, and new industry creation. Also, they are making moves to create jobs by innovating systems such as reinforcing research professors and industry university cooperation.
The University of Ulsan is also getting on board with this movement. President Oh Yeon-cheon expressed his opinions about Korea’s and Ulsan’s preparation for the future jobs on 20, May, 2015, at the 6th Asian Leadership Conference held at the Seoul Hotel Shilla. “Universities should think about the changes that will appear in the future and prepare for a globalized job market. Then, they should provide open education to youth so that they can show their strengths in their own fields”. Through these acts we can expect a brighter future for the U.O.U.’s industry-university cooperation education. Now, the U.O.U. is preparing a system to promote human resources; ‘Youth CEO IPR’ (Intellectual Property Rights) by awareness-raising businesses’ and conducting M.O.U.s with Gyeongnam Bank, the Innovative creative economy center, and Lotte Shopping.
If Ulsan and the UOU’s focus on job creation support systems continues to branch out with ideas and goals for other industries for the city. Then Ulsan will once again be recognized as a great city to find a job and raise a family for today’s youth.
