Vocational Ability Development Program under the EIS - Republic of Korea

Source: Ministry of Labour

• Related Legislations
• Basic objectives
• Assistance to Employers Who Offer Training and Education on a Voluntary Basis
• Supports for the Self-development of Workers

Related legislations

• Articles 21-27 of the Employment Insurance Act

With the formulation and implementation of the Employment Insurance Act on July I 1995, the ES (Employment Insurance System) vocational ability development scheme has been developed as an incentive system to induce voluntary training by providing subsidies to employers and employees with the ES fund for workplaces with 50 permanent or fu11-time employees or more (excluding the companies with 1,000 fu1l-time workers or more in the six industrial sectors including manufacturing).

The vocational ability development subsidies are divided largely into two kinds: one is the supports to employers who implement vocationa1 ability development programs, namely, the supports for in-plant vocationa1 training and education and paid leave for education and training and the loans for installation of education and training facilities and equipment; and the other is the supports to employees under education or training courses, namely, training incentives such as loans for training tuitions, promotion bounty for training and education, and financial supports for reemployment training targeted for unemployed. Employers who conduct a variety of training necessary for developing vocational competence of their own employees shall have part of or the whole training expenses reimbursed by the ES fund.

Basic objectives

• To induce voluntary implementation of vocational training, by offering financial assistance to employers and workers through the Employment Insurance Fund;
• To extend the vocational training system which previously centred on fostering labour force in the manufacturing sector, to cover all the branches of economic activity, including agriculture and fisheries, finance and insurance, transportation and storage, communications, medical service, office work, and other services; and
• To give a full support to upgrading training, job-conversion training and re-training in order to provide workers with opportunities of continuously developing their ability throughout their career.

Assistance to employers who offer training and education on a voluntary basis

• An employer who gives his/her employees vocational training may have part of or the whole vocational training subsidized: 80% in case of in-plant training (1000/0 for the preferentially supported enterprises); 70% in case of commissioned training (900/0 for the preferentially supported enterprises); and 100% in case of job-conversion training regardless of the size of business.
• An employer who commissions his/her employees' education to 2-year junior colleges or higher-level educational institutions or to the educational institutes designated by the Ministry of labour, shall be reimbursed with 70% of the commissioned training costs.
• An employer who provides to 30 days of paid education/training leave to up an incumbent employee with a service period of 1 year or longer and offer him/her commissioned vocational training, will be subsidized with up to 70% of the vocational training expense plus wage (90% in case of preferentially supported enterprises).
• An employer who conducts in-plant training may receive a loan for installing and purchasing facilities and equipment needed for training (at an annual interest rate of 1-2.5%).
• An employer or an organization of employers that intend to install vocational training facilities and equipment, may be given a financial assistance (up to 50% of the expense within the limit of 2 billion Won).

Supports for the self-development of workers

• In case an insured worker to be displaced or a worker aged 50 or older pays the tuition for training/education courses for job conversion after retirement, he/she will be subsidized with 90% of the tuition within the limit of 1 million won.
• A worker who has enrolled in or is presently attending a junior college or a higher-level school will be fully subsidized for the tuition.
• An insured jobless worker who receives training for reemployment will be provided with the training subsidy and training allowance.

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