BUSAN — Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongsangnam Province are launching a cross-regional cooperation program that links young talent, companies and jobs across administrative boundaries. The plan aims to jointly address labor shortages and youth outflow in shared core industries such as shipbuilding, automobiles and machinery parts, and to build what the three governments call a single "Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam jobs living zone."
The Busan Metropolitan Government said on the 7th that it will hold a launch ceremony for the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Gwangyeok Ieum Project with the Ulsan Metropolitan Government and Gyeongsangnam Province at 10:30 a.m. on the 8th at BEXCO Exhibition Center 2 in Busan. About 150 people will attend, including Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo, Ulsan Mayor Kim Sang-wook, Gyeongsangnam Province Governor Park Wan-su, Vice Minister of Employment and Labor Kwon Chang-jun and industry officials.
The project is built on the premise that the industrial and employment structures of the three regions already function as a single economic area. The three share shipbuilding, automobile and machinery parts industries, and both companies and workers move across administrative boundaries. The idea is to bundle job policies that each local government had pursued separately into a single regional framework, covering talent inflow, settlement and corporate cooperation together.
The three governments will invest a total of 12.5 billion won this year — 10 billion won from the central government and 2.5 billion won from local budgets — to carry out three projects and seven detailed programs over four years under the names Talent Ieum, Settlement Ieum and Future Ieum. Talent Ieum supports initial settlement and asset building for young people from outside the region, including the Seoul metropolitan area, as they take jobs at local companies. Support is also offered to those relocating within the region and to young people commuting between cities, to encourage longer tenure.
Settlement Ieum focuses on improving living conditions at the regional level through support for cross-city commuters and cross-regional employment services. Future Ieum trains specialists needed for the artificial intelligence transformation of local industries and supports joint research among companies as well as production and supply chain cooperation.
A Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Gwangyeok Ieum job fair and a maritime and fisheries job fair will be held alongside the ceremony. About 70 companies, including large corporations and mid-sized and small businesses in shipbuilding, automobiles and machinery parts, will take part in the Gwangyeok Ieum fair. Including the maritime and fisheries fair, roughly 100 companies will meet job seekers. The venue will feature promotional booths for large companies, recruitment booths, a headhunting section and a section for employment and settlement support.
The Busan city government will hold a policy forum in the afternoon to discuss the direction of cross-regional job policy and future cooperation tasks.
"Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam are a single living zone where industry and talent, jobs and daily life are closely connected," Jeon said. "Through this project, we will create a wide range of job opportunities beyond individual regions and lay the foundation for Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam to grow together as a cross-regional jobs ecosystem."
