Busan is good

Busan Metropolitan City Selected as “Best Performer” in the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s 2025 Youth Growth Project, Achieving an Unprecedented Two-Year, Two-Category Sweep Among Local Governments

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Busan Metropolitan City Mayor Park Heong-joon announced that the City received the highest rating in both evaluation categories of the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s 2025 Youth Growth Project—Workplace Adaptation Support—and became the only local government to achieve a two-year consecutive double win.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor’s Youth Growth Project is currently being implemented by 60 operating organizations across 54 local governments nationwide, including Busan, while the Workplace Adaptation Support program is provided by 26 operating organizations in 25 local governments. By earning the top “Best Performer” rating in both categories, Busan Metropolitan City has been recognized as a leading local government in name and reality.

In this year’s performance evaluation, the City received high marks across all indicators, including the establishment of infrastructure reflecting youth demand, the planning and operation of customized programs, job placement through youth–company matching, and post-employment follow-up to support job retention. These achievements once again affirmed Busan’s standing as a leading city in youth employment policy.

The Youth Growth Project provides youth-friendly infrastructure and customized programs to support job-seeking activities and prevent disengagement among unemployed youth, while the Workplace Adaptation Support program assists newly hired young workers in adjusting smoothly to their workplaces. In Busan, these programs are operated by the Busan Employers Federation and the Busan Economic Promotion Agency.

As a result of project implementation, 6,735 participants took part in capacity-building programs, exceeding the original target of 6,000, thereby strengthening the foundational competencies needed for unemployed youth to regain job-seeking motivation and enter the labor market. In addition, 1,528 participants joined the workplace adaptation program, surpassing the target of 1,300, supporting organizational adaptation and long-term retention of newly hired youth while enhancing employment stability through links to youth-friendly organizational culture initiatives.

Furthermore, the City has built and operated a systematic support model that connects the entire employment cycle—from talent discovery and development to job matching, workplace adaptation, and employment retention—centered on a team of matching specialists composed of professional career counselors. The completeness and effectiveness of this Busan-style support model were proven through this performance evaluation.

In addition, a participating youth from Busan received an Encouragement Award in the 2025 Youth Growth Project Outstanding Case Essay Contest hosted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

One award recipient shared that participation in employment competency-building programs, including mock interview workshops, systematically strengthened their job preparation skills, leading to successful acceptance into the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s Youth Internship Program in the first half of 2025. Another award recipient commented that after experiencing repeated job changes and unsuccessful job searches, they regained confidence through counseling, self-analysis, and presentation and speech training programs, ultimately securing re-employment at a local hospital and successfully returning to the labor market.

Building on these achievements, Busan Metropolitan City plans to significantly expand the number of beneficiaries in 2026 from the current 6,000 to 9,000, representing the largest scale of support nationwide. The City intends to further advance its three-tier program system—confidence recovery, intensive job placement, and career focus—to provide practical support for social entry and stable employment.

Meanwhile, Busan Metropolitan City will hold the Busan Youth Job Growth Project Performance Report Meeting on December 26 at 11:00 a.m. at Avani Central Busan.

The event is expected to bring together around 60 participants, including youth and companies involved in the project as well as universities, to share program participation cases and exchange diverse opinions on next year’s project operation plans. Awards will also be presented to individuals who have made notable contributions to youth job creation in Busan over the past year.

Kim Gwi-ok, Director General of the City’s Youth–Industry–Academia Bureau, stated, “This achievement—becoming the only local government nationwide to secure a two-year consecutive double win—is the result of close cooperation among the City, the central government, and operating organizations working as one team to respond to the voices of Busan’s youth. Next year, we will significantly expand the project so that more young people can participate, and we will spare no effort to make Busan a city where youth can enjoy staying, take on challenges, and nurture their dreams.”