Incheon Metropolitan City has received the grand prize at the National Local Government Job Awards, earning recognition for job policies that reflect the characteristics of local industry and on-site demand. The city plans to concentrate its efforts on field-oriented policies that go beyond expanding the quantity of employment to help young people settle down and stay in long-term jobs.
 [코리안투데이] Incheon Metropolitan City, winner of the top award at the National Local Government Job Awards © 장형임 기자 |
Incheon Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Chan-dae) won the top award in the disclosure category of the 2026 National Local Government Job Awards, hosted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, on August 19. Its ‘GroohBee’ project, an innovative employment-service model, also received an excellence award in the outstanding-project category, giving Incheon simultaneous awards in two categories along with the distinction of being recognized for the fourth consecutive year.
‘GroohBee’ is a coined word combining the idea of root industries that serve as the ‘stump’ (grooteogi) of manufacturing and the ‘Bee’ that gathers and connects field data. More than a simple database, it is a cooperative operating platform that links corporate difficulties to policies and support. Incheon developed it in-house.
The top award in the disclosure category came as a comprehensive evaluation of the policies and outcomes the city has pursued in setting and achieving its regional employment goals. Last year, Incheon created 180,017 jobs and posted an employment rate of 69.8% and a youth employment rate of 44.8%, reaching 110% of its original target. In particular, it ranked first among metropolitan cities in both the employment rate and the economic participation rate, and it also ranked first among metropolitan cities in the number of regular workers, a key indicator of job quality. The city was also well regarded for pursuing policies that raise the quality and sustainability of employment beyond the sheer number of jobs — expanding youth employment, converting workers to permanent status, spreading work-life balance, and improving working conditions — in connection with the characteristics of local industry.
‘GroohBee’, which received the excellence award, is an innovative employment-service model that accumulates consultation records and difficulties gathered from manufacturing and root-industry sites into a single body of data and connects it to policies, corporate support, and jobs. The accumulated voices from the field and corporate demand do not stop at simple consultation but lead to tailored support programs through the joint use of data among related agencies, the discovery of new job projects, and the enhancement of existing programs. Representative examples include tailored job support for local industries, a Root Industry Push-Up (UP) program, support for spreading automotive win-win agreements, a Basic Connection (Gicho-eum) project, industry-academia recruitment support, and process-improvement support for root-industry firms. For companies, it helps secure needed workers and improve working and production environments; for workers, it links recruitment incentives with housing, cultural, and living support, building an employment-support foundation that runs from ‘recruitment → adaptation → settlement → long-term employment’.
The effects of these policies are also confirmed at actual workplaces. Company A, which has produced office chairs for more than 30 years, had been struggling to secure young talent when it received a youth career-building incentive and field-tailored welfare through the tailored job support for local industries. Through the process-improvement support for root-industry firms, it also automated part of a process that took a skilled worker 50 seconds, improving both workers’ job satisfaction and the production environment. Company B, a maker of automotive electronic components, connected unemployed young people to jobs through the Root Industry Push-Up (UP) program, and through support for spreading automotive win-win agreements it received help with remodeling break rooms and installing air-conditioning, improving new workers’ early adaptation and conditions for long-term employment.
There are also cases where public support led companies to voluntarily expand their own welfare. Company C, an auto-parts maker, received recruitment and employment incentives and cultural-living support through the support for spreading automotive win-win agreements starting in 2024, then established its own in-house worker welfare fund from 2025, and this year is receiving support such as side-dish and household services under the Basic Connection (Gicho-eum) project to ease work-life burdens. Company D, which makes parts for mobile phones, linked industry-academia recruitment support with tailored job support for local industries to connect with the talent it needed while also receiving youth housing subsidies, recruitment incentives, and mutual-aid programs — support that steps from recruitment to living stability and long-term employment.
These cases show how the job policies Incheon has designed apply to the different employment problems found at industrial sites. Companies that need workers are supported with recruitment, companies worried about new workers leaving are supported with settlement, and companies with poor working conditions are supported with environmental improvements.
Using this award as a springboard, Incheon plans to focus its policy capacity on creating ‘good jobs’ that citizens can feel, going beyond simply creating jobs. The city will strengthen youth job support so that young people — the future leaders of the local economy — can find work and settle stably in Incheon, while also expanding support for vulnerable groups such as women whose careers have been interrupted. In addition, it will continue to reflect opinions from corporate worksites to precisely match local industry’s labor demand with job seekers’ needs, and it will expand field-oriented job policies that run from recruitment to employment retention, work-life balance, and improved working conditions.
Incheon Mayor Park Chan-dae said, ‘This top award is meaningful in that the policies we pursued so that citizens could feel the change at the workplaces where they actually work have been recognized for their results.’ He added, ‘We will actively find quality jobs so that young people can work and settle stably in Incheon, and we will push forward even more meticulously with field-centered policies that both companies and workers can feel.’
지역 홍보대사 신청 기자양성과정 신청 코리안투데이 지부장 신청 코리안투데이 인천강화
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