Daejeon City is embarking in earnest on creating the Work(職).Living(住).Fun(樂) Youth Special City, encompassing jobs, housing, and an enjoyable life.

To this end, the city is promoting the youth-led "Daejeon Youth Assembly," the "expansion of mandatory recruitment of regional talent by public institutions," and the "supply of 5,000 high-quality youth housing units" which will dramatically improve residential conditions.

In addition, the city is swiftly promoting tangible youth policies, including the "expansion of the 'Future Double Youth Bankbook' for asset building," the "establishment of the Daejeon Youth Job Integrated Platform," the "creation of youth jobs (2,921)," the "nurturing of youth startups (1,000)," the "expansion of cultural enjoyment opportunities" for the future generation, and the opening of the "Daejeon Youth Future Center" exclusively for vulnerable youth.

Through these various policies, the city aims to complete a sustainable "Youth Special City Daejeon" where young people can settle down on their own and map out their futures.

First, the "Daejeon Youth Assembly," where youth lead everything from policy establishment to execution and evaluation, is currently recruiting amid an enthusiastic response from local youth.

The 1st Daejeon Youth Assembly, which has been recruiting for three weeks starting Monday, September 21st, already surpassed 300 applicants as of yesterday (the 28th), recording an explosive reaction with an average competition rate of 3 to 1.

In particular, to enhance fairness and representation—which are of utmost concern to young people—25 members per each of the 4 subcommittees will be finally selected by the end of October by introducing a fair computerized lottery system using random stratified sampling that considers the ratio of youth population and gender by autonomous district.

The city also plans to devise measures to enhance the effectiveness of the regional talent mandatory recruitment system for local public institutions.

The Chungcheong region's mandatory regional talent recruitment system was implemented in May 2020 following the revision of the Innovation City Act in October 2019 during the 7th popular election term.

In this regard, the Chungcheong region's mandatory regional talent recruitment rate increased by 16.22 percentage points from 33.36% in 2021 to 49.58% in 2025.

Accordingly, the city expects recruitment scale to grow further when public institutions in the Seoul metropolitan area are relocated to the region through the upcoming 2nd wave of public institution relocation, and plans to strengthen administrative support, such as building a recruitment information provision platform.

Furthermore, the city will closely look after housing stability and economic independence support, which are the biggest concerns of the youth generation.

In areas with excellent public transportation and living infrastructure, the city plans to provide a pleasant living environment by supplying 5,000 customized, high-quality youth housing units, including ▲1,800 Dae-ga-on units, ▲1,500 purchased rental units, and ▲1,700 publicly supported private rental units.

Along with this, the city will significantly broaden the pool of beneficiaries by relaxing the eligibility criteria for the "Future Double Youth Bankbook," which supports youth asset building, and pay a marriage encouragement subsidy of 3 million KRW per household—the highest level among metropolitan local governments nationwide—firmly supporting the early stability and local settlement of young couples.

In addition, the city has selected the "Establishment of the Daejeon Youth Job Integrated Platform" as a core pledge project to bundle job policies and information into one and connect local companies with youth talent by introducing an artificial intelligence (AI) matching system.

Beyond merely providing job information, the city plans to build this platform so that it serves as a foundation for completing customized growth ladders by life cycle and allowing youth to prepare for employment in a self-directed manner.

The creation of quality jobs and a startup ecosystem for youth will also be significantly expanded.

Daejeon City has set a goal of "creating 2,921 youth jobs" for 2026, strengthening customized support for each stage of youth growth, from fostering future industry talent to employment, startups, and work experience.

In particular, the city will promote employment by expanding connections between local companies and youth, providing startup support and field work experience opportunities, while backing youth's economic independence and local settlement through asset building and housing support.

The city will also create a startup environment where youth can take on challenges and settle in the region, targeting the "nurturing of 1,000 youth startups."

To this end, some of the youth rental housing units in the Gung-dong area of Yuseong-gu, where startup parks are concentrated, will be allocated exclusively for founders, and waiting list applicants will be recruited within the year. Starting next year, the city plans to widely support youth startup challenges by introducing a youth bonus points system in city startup support projects.

Furthermore, the city will take the lead in expanding youth opportunities to enjoy culture and eliminating blind spots in welfare.

In tune with the government's introduction of the Youth Culture and Arts Pass (providing 150,000 KRW annually) next year, Daejeon City plans to actively discover cultural support blind spots such as adolescent groups left out of national project support starting in 2028, thereby building a meticulous cultural support system.

In addition, through the "Daejeon Youth Future Center" opening this October, the city will proactively discover vulnerable youth—such as those providing family care or experiencing isolation and reclusion—and provide one-stop customized services leading from "discovery-counseling-linked support-follow-up management" to overcome difficulties together.

Daejeon Mayor Heo Tae-jung stated, "It is important to expand practical and highly tangible youth policies across various aspects, including jobs (職), housing (住), and an enjoyable life (樂) that youth need most in reality, as well as participation in municipal administration." He added, "We will enhance youth participation in municipal administration and provide a foundation for self-reliance to complete 'Youth Special City Daejeon.'"

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