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Busan Metropolitan City Expands “Youth-Attractive Companies” Program to 120 Firms This Year, Strengthening Job-Matching Support

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon), together with the Busan Economic Promotion Agency, announced that it will recruit 30 new companies to participate in the “2026 Youth-Attractive Companies Discovery and Matching Support Program” until February 23, with the aim of identifying companies trusted by local youth and generating tangible hiring outcomes.

The “Youth-Attractive Companies” program designates outstanding local companies that Busan Metropolitan City has directly verified and selected based on key indicators that young job seekers prioritize most, including wages and income levels, employment stability, and work-life balance.

In January, Busan Metropolitan City re-certified a total of 90 companies out of the 110 existing Youth-Attractive Companies. This year, the city will additionally recruit 30 new companies, expanding the total scale to 120 companies in 2026.

Among the 110 companies selected last year, a total of 90 companies that met the evaluation criteria—such as average starting salary for new hires, average annual salary for employees, job creation performance, and level of participation in the program—were selected for re-certification this year.

Notably, the number of companies applying for re-certification this year reached 100, an increase of approximately 37 percent compared to the previous year’s 73 applicants. The number of companies selected also expanded by 55 percent, from 58 to 90. These results indicate a significant rise in corporate participation and trust in the Youth-Attractive Companies program.

These outcomes reflect enhanced brand value of the Youth-Attractive Companies program, as well as increased corporate satisfaction and policy credibility. Through this announcement, Busan Metropolitan City plans to establish a stable job pool comprising a total of 120 companies.

This year, Busan Metropolitan City will further strengthen a “step-by-step hiring support system” that goes beyond simple promotion to directly connect companies with young job seekers.

First, selected Youth-Attractive Companies will be linked with the Busan Youth Job-Matching Internship Program. Under this initiative, companies that hire interns with the condition of transitioning them to regular employment will receive up to KRW 4.5 million per intern over three months to subsidize labor costs, easing the hiring burden on companies while supporting young people’s stable transition into full-time positions.

In the second half of the year, the city plans to host the largest-ever “Youth-Attractive Companies Plus Mega Job Fair,” operating corporate promotion booths and intensively providing recruitment consultations and job matching to maximize tangible employment outcomes.

Additional benefits include customized recruitment support by dedicated Youth-Attractive Company managers, production of corporate promotional videos and company guidebooks, and on-campus company information sessions at universities.

Eligible applicants are companies located within Busan (with both headquarters and main business sites in the city) that have been operating normally for at least three years (business registration prior to January 1, 2023) and employ at least 10 workers as of December 31, 2025.

Final selections will be made in March following a three-stage evaluation process consisting of quantitative evaluation, on-site evaluation, and qualitative evaluation.

The on-site evaluation, a core component of the process, will be conducted by a Youth Evaluation Panel composed of local young people. Panel members will visit companies in person, conduct in-depth interviews with human resources managers and current employees, and closely assess working environments from the perspective of young job seekers.

This approach is meaningful in that young people—the actual beneficiaries of the program—will directly verify not only companies’ external indicators but also whether they possess organizational cultures where young people genuinely want to work.

Among the 120 Youth-Attractive Companies selected this year, Busan Metropolitan City will designate five companies in the first half of the year as “Excellent Youth Employment Companies” and provide various incentives, including a Good Workplace Enhancement Grant of KRW 40 million per company, exemption from acquisition tax on newly acquired business real estate, designation as a Busan Outstanding Company (and Individual), and reductions in credit guarantee fees.

Companies wishing to participate in the program may apply online through the Busan Job Information Network website (www.busanjob.net) by 5:00 p.m. on February 23.

For further details, inquiries may be directed to the Youth Dodream Center of the Busan Economic Promotion Agency at 051-600-1356.

Mayor Park Heong-joon stated, “With a significant expansion in re-certification this year and strengthened continuity and credibility of the program, we will focus our efforts on generating visible hiring outcomes through direct matching strategies that link Mega Job Fairs and internships. I hope that outstanding local companies will actively participate so that together we can create a Busan where young people want to stay and build their futures.”