Questions/Answers

In 2020, 105 out of 288 cities and counties in Korea which accounts for 46% are endangered regions and 16 have been added in last 2 years and the rate is likely to further accelerate. In particular, the endangered regions are mostly located in rural areas and these areas are likely to be threatened not only in terms of politics, economy, culture and welfare, but also the fundamental food system could be threatened due to shortage of agricultural production workforce so there is calling for response measures. Korea has entered the aging society with the ratio of the elderly population over age 65 exceeding 14%, and elderly-related issues are reaching an alarming level. The poverty rate of 46.9% (OECD average 12.9%) among the elderly and the suicide rate is 80 people (OECD average 20) per 100,000 persons as of 2018. Notably, in addition to the elderly, urban areas, are grappling with how to connect idle manpower to economic activities. This manpower includes as retirees and career-stalled women. In Chungcheongbuk-do, 7 out of 11 cities and counties, belong to endangered regions. In July. 2016, Chungcheongbuk-do first introduced the ‘Productive Labor & Volunteer Service’ system, which integrated the ‘volunteer service and job support’, to locally address such local characteristics and issues. ‘Productive Labor & Volunteer Service’ connects the idle urban manpower in need to rural areas with lack of workforce based on ‘4-hour volunteer service in a day with 20,000 WON (meal and transportation) provided.’ Aiming towards the ultimate goal of invigorating the local economy through the coexistence of rural and urban areas, this Win-Win initiative provides volunteers with small work, social engagement (rewarding), income, and health benefits, while helping rural areas with production activities.

The initiative rooted from how the recent labor shortage in rural areas could be resolved. Under this initiative, volunteers were recruited based on private-public partnership among 11 cities and counties in the province and local volunteer groups in order to engage in production activities for farms with labor shortage. Through this institutional support, the initiative addressed the crisis in vulnerable rural areas, engaged the public sector to support stability for vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and the unemployed in urban areas, while contributing to the coexistence of rural and urban areas.

(Goal 1) Ensure 4-hour-per-day jobs and livelihood for the vulnerable communities of the elderly and the unemployed (Goal 2) Improve agricultural productivity by sending a massive workforce into the agriculture sector that is currently suffering from a shortage of labor (Goal 3) Enhance physical and mental health of the elderly by ensuring work and social participation through volunteer services (Goal 8) Drive sustainable economic growth by engaging the economically inactive in production activities for rural areas and, then, having local municipalities taking on improving local productivity (Goal 11) Promote mutual mobility and support through forming a production community in rural and urban areas (Goal 12) Minimize the loss of agricultural production due to the lack of manpower and ensure income for idle manpower

Idle manpower is increasing due to aging society, caused by higher life expectancy and unemployment caused the expansion of the 4th Industrial Revolution technology. This initiative plays a role of inducing the private and public sectors to work together and to connect idle manpower in urban areas to rural areas with labor shortages. When the initiative settles down stably in the future, it will deliver results by seamlessly connecting the idle urban manpower to actual employment in rural areas. Positive cases of hiring the manpower provided by this initiative are emerging, implying the possibility of ripple effect in the future.

The dwindling working age population in rural areas is leading to the risk of rural area extinction, while the trend of the aging society in the national level is leading to elderly-related issues. While the state and local municipalities are pouring a tremendous amount of their budget in policies to support the rural areas and elderly welfare, the issues are still deteriorating at an accelerating pace. Furthermore, the government’s policies for the elderly only aim to support their livelihoods so there is a call for the need to associate such policies with local production activities. Under these circumstances, Chungcheongbuk-do joined the efforts to address the issues by encouraging the idle manpower, including the elderly, to voluntarily engage in the labor market. To widen the range of participants, the cities and counties in Chungcheongbuk-do focused on publicizing the initiative through newspapers, TV stations, and village communities. The initiative is significant in that it encouraged the individuals and parties concerned to help deal with social issues, such as unemployment and elderly-related problems, and delivered significant achievements with limited budget.

In the Korean society, the elderly and females are categorized as part of the vulnerable community, as their participation in economic activities remains at low level. In the Korean labor market, the participation rate of females in economic activity is 53.5% as of 2019. which is 20% lower than that of males. The ‘Productive Labor & Volunteer Service’ Project, induced the social engagement of idle manpower and helped alleviate the ongoing gender disparity in the labor market by making more females involved in productive economic activities.

Major beneficiaries of the project can be categorized into two groups: the participants of idle manpower including the unemployed and elderly in urban areas, and the farmers and small businesses in rural areas with labor shortages who receive the labor services from the participants. First, the participants were mostly among females and seniors but the majority of them were from all age groups from 10’s to 50’s, indicating even participation. They worked in agricultural production activities, which require no professional skills or knowledge, and were assigned with easy labor at SMEs and they were given 20,000 WON for their 4-hour-per-day volunteer service as well as credit for volunteer service hours. Supplementary benefits for the participants include a fulfilling sense of social engagement and the health achieved by working. Second, the farmers and SMEs in rural areas with labor shortages were provided with manpower support for production. In 2019, 139,798 people for 3,987 farms and 9.720 people for 97 companies were assigned so they were able to run their businesses successfully.

The rural issue of extinction is deteriorating despite enormous budgets being allocated by the central and local governments. Sympathizing with these unfavorable developments, Governor of Chungcheongbuk-do, Lee Si-jong, proposed an initiative in 2016, taking cues from ‘Dure’, a traditional communal labor organization in Korea. The key idea of his proposal was to get the local governments to connect idle manpower in urban areas to rural areas with labor shortage. From March to April, 2016, Chungcheongbuk-do discussed the feasibility and implementation plans of this initiative with cities, counties, volunteer groups, local private institutions, and social organizations, followed by garnering opinions from the province communities. The pilot project began in July 2016 with the enactment of the “Chungcheongbuk-do Ordinance for Productive Labor and Volunteer Service Support” The local governments (province, city, county) provided the budget while volunteer service centers, private institutes, and social organizations recruited volunteers. Cities and counties propelled the implementation, connecting jobs to workers and providing all the participants with accident insurance. The province conducts annual evaluations to enhance the implementation and participation, giving incentive of 30 million WON to 6 cities and counties with excellent performance while awarding the ‘Productive Labor and Volunteer Service Grand Prize’ to 8 volunteers. While the initiative started from the commitment of the Governor, it gradually expanded, leading to a surge in the number of participants, from 97,295 people in 2017 to 112,492 in 2018 and ultimately, 149,518 in 2019. In November 2019, 44 private institutions and social organizations in Jincheon-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do requested for Jincheon-gun’s volunteer service center to take charge over the initiative from the government from 2020. In 2021, the private organizations from Jeungpyeong-gun, Goesan-gun, and Eumseong-gun expressed their willingness to lead the project, suggesting that the initiative is likely to be private-led in the future.

In the initial implementation stage, recruiting participants was difficult because it was understood as a volunteer. Chungcheongbuk-do implored communities to participate by leveraging full range of publicity including terrestrial TV, newspapers, leaflets, and street campaigns. Further, Chungcheongbuk-do signed work agreements with 48 province-based private social organizations to encourage participation, and since 2017, held the ‘Productive Labor and Volunteer Service Award Ceremony’ to motivate participants. As of October 2020, during the 4 year and 4 month course of the initiative, not only the residents of Chungcheongbuk-do, but also residents from neighboring Seoul, Daejeon, Chungcheongnam-do, and Gyeongsangbuk-do are participating.

This initiative originates from altruism. So far, Korea focused on volunteer service only during peak farming season and upon several natural disasters. Also, the job matching project was insufficient to address labor shortages in rural areas. Chungcheongbuk-do introduced a new paradigm, bringing together volunteer and job generation, increasing participation by combining volunteer with a certain amount of payment, supplying jobs by using idle manpower, and providing labor in production sites. The initiative is innovative in that it combined volunteer service and jobs generation and that it is equipped with a system that provides support all year round.

From the past, ‘Dure’ and ‘Pumasi’ are long standing traditions of local labor community. These traditions transformed to the nationwide campaign of the ‘Saemaeul Village Movement’ and ‘Gold Collection Campaign’, which contributed to transforming Korea from a recipient of aids after the Korean War to an economic power and a donor aid, and to repaying IMF debts early. Since 2016, Chungcheongbuk-do tied the province, cities and counties into a regional community to implement the ‘Productive Labor and Volunteer Service’. Chungcheongbuk-do, a small province that accounts for 3.08% of the Korean population is now leading the economic growth of the country.

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This initiative was the first in the country to be implemented. When the COVID-19 placed restrictions on inter-nation labor mobility, disrupted labor supply and abandoned production became reality. Consequently, Gangwon-do implemented this initiative in May 2020 as a countermeasure with a change in scheme; ‘Productive Job’ for ‘4-hour-per-day work with payment of 40,000 WON’ which is not a true volunteer service. Be it ‘Productive Labor & Volunteer Service’ or ‘Productive Job’, the key to the success of the project depends on the commitment of local municipalities, responsible officials, implementing intitutions, and active engagement of private social organizations and provincial communities.

The issues of rural area extinction, an aging society, and unemployment caused by technology do not apply to Chungcheongbuk-do only as they have become worldwide issues in advanced and developing countries. While enormous portions of budgets have been spent to address the issues of rural development, unemployment, and elderly-related problems, the Productive Labor & Volunteer Service project is capable of maximizing its effects at a low cost. Particularly, adopting this initiative in labor-intensive production activities in underdeveloped countries will significantly help economic growth. The initiative efficiently utilizes small-scale budget, surplus human resources, and social networks to address local issues, and its implementation is viable anytime on the condition that the local municipalities and the state are committed. The government only has to provide institutional foundation such as budget, building a network between surplus resources, and an encouraging atmosphere urging for people’s participation.

As for 2020, the project budget was 4,382 million KRW with 50% of the budget borne by Chungcheongbuk-do and the rest by 11 cities and counties. Among the total project budget, 3,400 million KRW was provided to the participants in return for the volunteer services and the rest was used for operation expenses like publicity activities. Most of the participants belong to idle manpower who were unemployed and elderly people in local areas, in occasional cases, students and white-collar workers participated during holidays on a pro bono basis. Non-payment participation accounts for about 5% of total participation.

The ’Chungcheongbuk-do Ordinance for Productive Labor and Volunteer Service Support’ was enacted based on opinions from the communities and a resolution passed by the local parliament, preparing the foundation for budget and legal basis. Currently, the initiative runs independently within private networks and more than 200,000 people are benefiting annually. It has been analyzed to create production inducing effect worth 21.14 billion KRW, added-value inducing effect of 9.86 billion KRW, and employment inducing effect of 268.5 people. The total economic effects as of 2019 amounts to 17 billion WON. With such accomplishments, the initiative will maintain sustainability by private-led operation.

Yes

1. ‘Study on the new paradigm of Productive Labor and Volunteer Service to realize a healthy everyday life with the community (Oct. 2018) 2. Reflection of Productive Labor and Volunteer Service in the post-Coronavirus era 3. Selection by the 2020 local municipality joint evaluation for ‘best practice for national empathy’ 4. Several media outlets reported the significance and outcomes through hundreds of articles, comments, and contributions

1. The Korea Institute for Public Autonomy analyzed the ideas and values of a Productive Labor and Volunteer Service for the period of 4 months and evaluated and issued the significance of its social and economic effects. 2. Chungbuk Research Institute evaluated the operation outcome of Productive Labor and Volunteer Service and the social and economic ripple effects. 3. 103 members of the national joint evaluation group, organized by the Korean Ministry of the Interior and Safety, qualitatively evaluated the significance and effects of the policies submitted by local governments, selecting ‘Productive Labor and Volunteer Service’ in 2020.

Public research institutes evaluated the Productive Labor and Volunteer Service initiative as a positive force for building healthy community life and realizing sharing economy, giving economy and good economy. The initiative attracted attention as a driving force to help overcome the COVID-19 which caused labor shortages in rural areas of Chungcheongbuk-do. Further, a 2018 survey revealed that the participants of the volunteer service were generally satisfied, and 97% of the beneficiaries were satisfied. While some are critical of the payments given to participants for transportation and meals because it damages the true meaning of volunteer, this can be understandably explained by the social value of volunteer workforce and the concept for extending volunteering. The Productive Labor and Volunteer Service is an extended concept which does not disrupt the existing labor market, and it needs to be recognized as a new paradigm which combines existing voluntary service with a fixed amount of payment for sustainability. The Productive Labor and Volunteer Service has already established its sustainability through initiative significance and outcomes, rapport with Chungcheongbuk-do resident, commitments of local governments, supports from media and commendation by the central government. Also, the Korean National Assembly is recommending a nationwide expansion of the initiative.

This initiative is supervised by Chungcheongbuk-do Province, as a metropolitan municipality and is being operated by local governments of 11 cities and counties in the province. The province supervises the initiative by proposing the directions and guidances while the cities and counties run the initiative in accordance with the policy directions and guidelines of the province. The cities and counties utilize administrative organization to check labor shortages on farms and small-to-medium enterprises, and work with local volunteer service centers and private social organizations to recruit volunteers. The ‘Chungcheongbuk-do Ordinance for Productive Labor and Volunteer Service Support’ stipulates the legal grounds for the operation and support of this initiative, which equally splits the budget between the province, the cities and counties. For project implementations, the province ↔ cities and counties ↔ eup, myeon, dong (township unit) work in vertical relationships, while the province, cities, and counties ↔ local volunteer service centers, private institutions, and social organizations work in horizontal relationships.

Proposed by Chungcheongbuk-do, the Master Plan was completed in April 2016 after garnering opinions from deputy mayors of cities and counties, volunteer centers, farmers organizations, corporate associations and elderly citizen associations during the planing stage of the initiative. The success of the project depended upon the cities and counties responsible for playing their part in contributing to the budget and operation. In 2016, the Governor of Chungcheongbuk-do, Lee Si-jong, visited 11 cities and counties in person to conclude work agreements on the general requirements and to gain their consent for the initiative. Also, the province announced and publicized the initiative to seek consents from communities which led to the approval by the Provincial Council and the subsequent enactment of the Ordinance. From 2017 to 2019, the Governor of Chungcheongbuk-do signed work agreements with 47 private organizations, followed by 101 villages and 101 private organizations, including religious organizations and media to ensure the implementation capability for the initiative, All the stakeholder of this initiative, including mayors of cities and counties as well as representatives of participating organizations participate in a kick-off ceremony held at the beginning of every year and in the year-end ‘Productive Labor and Volunteer Service Award’ ceremony.

According to the evaluation by the Korea Institute for Public Autonomy, this Productive Labor and Volunteer Service initiative is valuable from 6 perspectives: the sharing economy derived from sharing, exchanging and using tangible and intangible assets; warmth felt due to coexistence economy for mutual growth; the social economy which creates values based on cooperation and self-reliance; local community values that pursues mutual goats by socially interacting with each other in all aspects of everyday life; the value of labor harmonized between the capital owners and labor suppliers; and the value of volunteer service which involves voluntarily offering time, efforts, and skills to others and the community. Moreover, the value that is equally as important as the above mentioned six ideological values is the contribution to the development of the local economy. The initiative benefits all the participants as it utilizes surplus resources to enhance local productivity, which in return provides surplus resources for economic and social gains. It is our hope that the initiative is propagated to all municipalities in Korea, as well as other developing countries undergoing urbanization.