Samsung has launched a job training programme for unemployed young people outside the Seoul metropolitan area, linked to a government youth employment project. Samsung Welfare Foundation on Wednesday held an opening ceremony for the Youth Hope Learning Center at Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance’s Yuseong training centre in Daejeon, marking the start for 550 trainees from four regions: Chungcheong, Honam, North Gyeongsang and South Gyeongsang.

The Youth Hope Learning Center is part of the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s K-New Deal Academy initiative to strengthen youth job skills. Samsung designed the programme by combining operating experience from its existing youth support programme, Hope Stepping Stone 2.0, with training infrastructure from its affiliates. Full-scale training will begin simultaneously in four regions from Aug. 3.

The curriculum covers six job areas: electronics and IT manufacturing technicians, HVAC and refrigeration technicians, shipbuilding technicians, heavy equipment driving technicians, online advertising and PR practitioners, and baking and pastry technicians. It provides a package of support ranging from basic competency training to job-specific courses, certification acquisition and career development.

About 250 people attended the event, including Chang-jun Kwon (권창준), vice minister at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, So-hee Lee (이소희), a lawmaker from the People Power Party, and Myung-gu Yeo (여명구), a vice president who heads the DS corporate social responsibility group at Samsung Electronics, as well as trainees from the Chungcheong region. Kwon said, "It is a policy in which companies meet talent that will lead the future, young people build their capabilities, and the government supports this so that everyone grows together." He added, "I hope young people grow further and make a higher leap through Samsung’s Youth Hope Learning Center."

Yeo said, "The skills learned at the Youth Hope Learning Center will become solid competitiveness." He added, "Samsung will continue to work to nurture technical talent needed in industrial workplaces and expand growth opportunities for young people."

Samsung plans to open affiliate infrastructure such as cafeterias and shuttle buses to trainees to support an environment that helps them focus on training. It will select a total of 1,000 unemployed young people outside the capital region this year, split into the first and second halves, and training for the second half is scheduled to start from November after a recruitment announcement in August.