Promised to Retain “Young Blood,” but Youth Seafarer Asset-Building Mutual Aid Budget Dropped Again

No Budget Allocation for Youth Seafarers’ Asset-Building Support

High Average Wages, Yet 75-Hour Workweeks

"Ongoing Efforts to Secure Talent in Shipbuilding and Maritime Sectors"

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has failed to secure funding for next year for the so-called 'Maritime Technician Mutual Aid System' (tentative name: Seafarer Chaeum Mutual Aid), which was being promoted to encourage young seafarers to remain on ships for extended periods. Although the ministry has been pushing this project for several years, it has effectively stalled after failing to resolve disagreements over fairness and other issues during consultations with the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

According to relevant ministries on the 24th, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has decided not to request a budget for the Seafarer Chaeum Mutual Aid project—which aims to support young seafarers in building up their assets—in its 2027 budget proposal. Originally, the project was designed so that if a young seafarer on a coastal vessel contributed 2 million won per year, the shipping company would provide an additional 2 million won, and the government would contribute 4 million won, enabling participants to accumulate a lump sum after three or five years.

The ministry initiated the Seafarer Chaeum Mutual Aid system in response to the increasingly serious problem of young seafarers leaving the industry and the aging workforce. According to statistics from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, as of last year, only 19.2% of ship officers were aged under 30, less than half the proportion of those aged 60 and over (40.4%). Among general crew members, who handle ship maintenance and support work, only 2.3% were under 30, while 52.8% were aged 60 and above, indicating an even more severe aging issue. To address this workforce structure, the ministry began reviewing youth support measures in 2022 and included asset-building support as an official task in the '2nd Basic Plan for Seafarer Policy' announced in 2024.

However, the Ministry of Economy and Finance reportedly took a negative stance toward allocating the budget, arguing that offering special asset-building support only to seafarers—a particular occupational group—would be unfair to other workers. In particular, there was a significant difference in perspective regarding wage levels. As of last year, the average monthly wage for all employed people in their 20s nationwide was 2.34 million won. However, the average pre-tax monthly wage for third mates on coastal vessels with 1–5 years of experience during the same period was 4.19 million won, which was 1.85 million won higher. The government thus judged that such additional support was not necessary.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries argued that, given the unavoidable long working hours and extended periods at sea—such as the average weekly working time reaching 75.3 hours—it is difficult to assess working conditions based solely on wage levels. The ministry believes that in order to attract young people to the seafaring profession and encourage them to stay long-term, comprehensive support is needed—not only for wages, but also for working conditions and asset-building. A ministry official said, "Rather than promoting the youth seafarer mutual aid system as a separate project, we plan to secure budgets for a variety of support programs aimed at securing essential workforce in areas such as shipbuilding and maritime industries."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.