Korean Ministry of Labor certified 30 companies more as social enterprises
- According to “Social Enterprise Promotion Law” which has been enforced since July, 2007, Social Enterprise Support Committee under Ministry of Labor certified 30 companies additionally as social enterprises in April, 2008.
- Ministry of Labor certified 54 enterprises in 2007.
* Social enterprise in Korea; A company which makes profit while it is in pursuit of
social value such as creating jobs for underprivileged and providing social services.
- The example of certified of social enterprise in April, 2008
1) the Group Loving Traditional Culture Inc.
Main program; making people experience traditional culture, offering traditional village tours, and creating hopeful farm villages
Target employees: the youth unemployed, and professional human resources who stops their work
2) Jjaro Love Inc.
Main program: manufacturing and selling organic Tofu
Target employees: the low-income (Jjaro Love Inc. was established by the homeless)
- The support for certified social enterprises
1) Labor cost
(regular worker: KRW 788,000 per month, professionals: KRW 1.2million per month)
2) A part of employment insurance premium and industrial accident compensation insurance, National Health Insurance , and pension insurance premium
3) Tax Reduction and Support for Social Insurance Premium: national tax and local tax as determined by the Corporate Tax Act, the Restriction of Special Taxation Act, and the Local Tax Act
4) Facility Expenses, etc.: site expenses, facility expenses, etc. or lease state-owned land and co-owned land
5) Provide professional consulting services; management, accounting, labor to certified social enterprises
- The social enterprise in Korea start to get attention as an alternative creating jobs for the unprivileged.
- Entering the President Lee Myung-Bak’s administration, the government plan to promote and support social enterprise and the privileged actively.
- “The government doesn’t focus on increasing the number of social enterprises certified, but on digging out good models for creating decent jobs. And we will support to build a society which social enterprises get sustainable in various area.”,
Lee Jae-Gap, the Director of employment policy said.
- He also suggested the cooperation of Ministry of Labor, related government offices, municipalities, companies, and NGOs to vitalize social enterprises in Korea.
- With these efforts, Ministry of Labor has organized “social enterprise forum for policies” since February, 2008, and invited various professionals from civil society, universities, etc. to the forum.; the contents discussed at the forum will be utilized for building ‘Social Enterprise Promoting Plan’ and modify the system for social enterprises later this year.
For Further questions,
Employment Support Center, Labor of Ministry: Tel (+82)1588-1919 Job Creation Policy Division, Labor of Ministry: Tel (+82-2)-507-6267 Social Enterprise Website, Labor of Ministry: www.socialenterprise.or.kr (Korean) |
