As a government plan to extend jobseeker benefits to young people who quit voluntarily draws criticism, a citizen petition has called for a system that rewards faster reemployment and longer tenure instead.
A petition titled "Calling for a Full Review of Unemployment Benefits and the National Employment Support Program and a Shift to a Tenure- and Employment-Based Reward System" was recently posted on Petition 24, the government's online petition platform. The petitioner argued that if the perceived benefit of support received after leaving a job exceeds the economic reward of staying employed, some workers may choose to quit rather than remain long term, and that policymakers should account for this possibility in designing the system.
The petition also offered a specific proposal: pay the largest reward to those who find new work within a month of becoming unemployed, and reduce payments as the jobless period lengthens. Rather than paying the reward immediately upon reemployment, the petition proposed holding it in a government account and disbursing it as a lump sum once the recipient has stayed at the new job for at least two years.
It also suggested that authorities focus on verifying whether recipients actually found work, how long they remained employed, and whether they support themselves after the assistance ends, while restricting support or tightening reviews for those who repeatedly leave jobs after short stints. The petition's premise is that unemployment benefits should not be "money you get for quitting" but temporary assistance to help people return to work after involuntary job loss.
Two of Three Young Voluntary Leavers Quit Within a Year
Behind the petition is the short job tenure of young workers. According to employment administration statistics from the Korea Employment Information Service, 97,437 people, or 66.5%, of the 146,418 workers under 35 who quit voluntarily in the first half of this year had been employed for less than a year. The share was higher among younger workers: 80.1% for those aged 20 to 24, 63.5% for those aged 25 to 29 and 55.2% for those aged 30 to 34. Young workers stay at their first job for an average of one year and 6.8 months.
In an Aug. 4 policy briefing to the president, the government said it would push to amend the Employment Insurance Act to provide a once-in-a-lifetime jobseeker benefit to workers under 35 who voluntarily leave a job after working for a certain period. A draft under consideration set the benefit at 60% of prior wages, capped at 1 million won ($690) a month, with detailed criteria yet to be determined. A vice minister of employment and labor said concerns that people would quit their jobs to collect the benefit were overblown.
Online, however, some have responded that "only a fool would pass up money the government is handing out." Questions have also been raised about fairness toward young people who have yet to land a first job.
The plan was left out of the 2027 budget bill on the 19th. The government says it will seek the legal amendment and budget allocation again after preparing supplementary measures, but public debate, including hearings, has not begun.
Repeat Recipients Total 113,000, Real Deficit 5.99 Trillion Won
Fiscal conditions are constraining any expansion of the program. The employment insurance fund posted a 592 billion won ($408 million) deficit for fiscal 2025, and the real deficit in the unemployment benefit account, excluding borrowing from the Public Capital Management Fund, stood at 5.9933 trillion won ($4.1 billion). Repeat claims under the current unemployment benefit system are also contentious.
According to data that the office of Rep. Kim So-hee of the People Power Party obtained from the Ministry of Employment and Labor, 113,000 people received unemployment benefits three or more times within the past five years as of last year, with payments totaling 599.754 billion won ($414 million), or about 5.3 million won per person. These figures cover the current program, which applies to people who lost jobs involuntarily, and are separate from the plan for young voluntary leavers. They are, however, the backdrop to calls in the National Assembly to cut payments for repeat recipients and tighten eligibility requirements.
The petition proposes differentiating rewards based on reemployment and tenure rather than broadening access to unemployment benefits. If the government revives its plan to support young people who quit voluntarily, the key variable will be whether the design addresses both concerns about early job exits and the fund's finances.