SEOUL: The South Korean government has increased the mandatory employment quota for people with disabilities to expand their job opportunities.
Private companies must now hire people with disabilities for 3.5% of their workforce by 2029 under new labour ministry measures.
Public sector organisations face a higher requirement of 4% for disability employment.
The government will implement these changes gradually through phased increases over several years.
Private sector quotas will rise from the current 3.1% to 3.3% in 2027 before reaching 3.5% in 2029.
Public sector requirements will increase from the current 3.8% to reach the 4% target.
Each 0.2 percentage point increase will create approximately 15,000 new jobs for people with disabilities in private companies.
The same incremental increase in public sector hiring will generate about 4,000 additional positions.
These changes should create 30,000 new jobs in the private sector for people with disabilities by 2029.
Public sector employment of people with disabilities should increase by 4,000 positions during the same period.
Employment rates for people with disabilities have declined from 50.3% in 2022 to 48.4% in 2024.
This contrasts with rising overall employment rates from 69.2% in 2022 to 70% in 2024. – Bernama