Lee Sohee: "156 Billion Won Youth Jobs Program Is Actually a Social and Solidarity Economy Budget"

"Don't use young people's desperation to justify budget spending"

Rep. Lee Sohee of the People Power Party criticized the Youth Work Experience Program for the Social Solidarity Economy, included in the government’s 2027 budget proposal, saying that no verification had been conducted and that “in reality, it’s a budget for paying our own salaries among ourselves.”

Rep. Lee Sohee of the People Power Party. Yonhap News Agency

On Nov. 5, Rep. Lee wrote on her social media account, “If this is a youth jobs budget, the government must answer what work young people will do, what they will gain from it, and whether the program has been evaluated.” She criticized it as “a hopeless budget that has no answers to any of those three questions.”

The government previously allocated 15.6 billion won for the Youth Work Experience Program for the Social Solidarity Economy in its 2027 budget. The program aims to cover youth labor costs, mentor fees and operating expenses for 897 social solidarity economy organizations, including cooperatives.

Rep. Lee criticized the program for failing to submit various materials and undergo verification. “The names of all 897 organizations are listed, but there isn’t a single line on what the young people learned,” she said. “The only performance indicator is the satisfaction level of participating companies and young people. There isn’t a single line on what the young people learned,” she pointed out.

“The social solidarity economy is a government policy task that President Lee Jae-myung has personally followed up on at Cabinet meetings,” Rep. Lee said. “Start by answering who this program is for and what young people will gain from it.” She added, “Don’t use young people’s desperation as an excuse to scatter public funds,” and called Lee “Cheongpodae”—a president who has given up on young people.

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