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Harnessing the Expertise of “New Middle-Aged” Adults for Community Care: Busan Metropolitan City Doubles This Year’s Budget for New Middle-Aged Jobs, Creating 600 Positions

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that it will invest KRW 2 billion this year—double last year’s budget—into the “New Middle-Aged Job Support Program” to create 600 jobs in total.

The “New Middle-Aged Job Support Program” identifies jobs in areas where social support is needed by leveraging the career experience and expertise of new middle-aged adults aged 50–64, while providing them with stable opportunities for social participation and economic activity.

The City operates tailored job programs that reflect diverse job-seeking needs, including: social service jobs focused on realizing social value; market-based jobs that support entrepreneurship among new middle-aged adults; and job placement–linked jobs that support job searches with private companies and other employers.

In particular, the City will expand “social service jobs” significantly to 240 positions—double last year’s level—to connect the capabilities of new middle-aged adults to community care areas and efforts to strengthen the social safety net, such as caring for vulnerable groups and supporting households experiencing seclusion or social isolation.

In response to growing demand for community care amid an increase in single-person households, the City plans to intensively discover jobs linked to pressing social issues, including care for vulnerable groups, identifying and supporting secluded or isolated households, and jobs in digital and artificial intelligence (AI)–related fields.

In addition, among social service jobs, the City will designate fields where service gaps are of concern as “Priority Jobs” to ensure more comprehensive support for social services.

Priority Jobs are a program that prioritizes job support in areas where urgent welfare-related staffing is needed or where the community faces pressing social issues, and it is being introduced for the first time this year.

The program will proceed through a public call to select implementing organizations for projects designated by the City. This year’s Priority Jobs include: dispatching cooking assistant personnel to free meal service providers for seniors; and a care supporters project for day-use facilities for persons with disabilities.

These efforts are part of the City’s “HAHA 365 Project,” which aims to create an environment where all residents can live happily and healthily in the places they have long called home.

The City also expanded the range of implementing organizations from districts/counties and non-profit corporations/organizations to include local government-funded or government-invested entities and universities.

For universities, the City plans to support professional training to cultivate high-quality human resources in connection with the 50 Plus (+) Life Redesign University, and to build a win-win system in which trained participants transition into job participation.

The City will discover job projects through a public call through January 23 and plans to finalize the projects to receive support in February.

The call is open to districts and counties, with key targets including social service job projects that reflect local characteristics and demand.

Non-profit corporations/organizations and local government-funded or government-invested entities that wish to operate job projects may apply to the relevant district or county by referring to each district/county’s recruitment plan.

Participant recruitment will be carried out by project from February to March after the projects are finalized. Any unemployed Busan resident aged 50–64 may apply. Selected participants will begin full-scale activities in March.

Participants will receive an activity allowance of 792,750 won per month (based on 60 working hours per month; before deductions; with social insurance enrollment), along with job-related training and safety training.

Participant recruitment will be conducted by each implementing organization in accordance with the detailed guidelines for each project.

Jeong Tae-gi, Director General of the Social Welfare Bureau, said, “New middle-aged adults are a valuable human resource with extensive experience and wisdom,” adding, “As single-person households increase and demand for care expands, we will continue to broaden a virtuous cycle that provides new opportunities in the later stages of life for new middle-aged adults while strengthening care and safety in the community.”