South Korea shares public employment service model with Sri Lanka

South Korea will share its public employment service experience — including its Goyong24 online job platform and employment-welfare plus centers — with Sri Lanka, going beyond a simple introduction of its systems to help the country develop tailored policy priorities and concrete action plans suited to its own labor market conditions.

The Korea Labor Foundation announced Monday that it will host 10 civil servants from Sri Lanka's Ministry of Labour's Manpower and Employment Division this week, from Monday through Friday, to share South Korea's employment policies and public employment service operations.

The training is part of an Asian Development Bank initiative to strengthen public employment service capacity across South Asia. The program aims to share South Korea's experience developing its public employment services — covering digital job platforms, links between vocational training and employment services, and youth employment support — and to use those lessons to identify areas for policy improvement in Sri Lanka.

On the opening day Monday, former Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jae-gap will deliver a keynote address on the future of South Korea's public employment services. He will outline the development of Korea's employment service system, its central-to-local delivery structure, and the roles of the ministry and affiliated agencies. Participants will also discuss Sri Lanka's labor market conditions, its current public employment services and key policy challenges.

On Tuesday, the delegation will visit the Korea Employment Information Service to examine data- and digital-driven operations, including the Goyong24 platform, the Labor Market Information System and AI-assisted employment services. The program will also cover how public employment services and technical and vocational education and training are linked to support school-to-work transitions.

On Wednesday, the group will visit the Seoul Employment Welfare Plus Center to observe its one-stop delivery model, which provides employment and welfare services under one roof. The session will also cover the Employment Permit System, policies supporting labor migrants and returning workers, and challenges related to domestic workforce utilization and labor emigration in Sri Lanka.

Thursday's program will focus on youth transitions from school to the labor market and the operation of youth employment services. The delegation will visit the career and employment support center at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and Mapo Cheongnyanaru, a Seoul Metropolitan Government youth job cafe, to examine university-level career support and community-based youth employment services.

On the final day Friday, participants will draw on their policy learning and site visits to identify priority areas and draft an action plan for Sri Lanka's public employment services. A follow-up workshop with local stakeholders is planned to refine the policy agenda with government and relevant agencies and lay the groundwork for continued cooperation.

The project is part of an ADB technical assistance program supporting school-to-work transitions and public employment service capacity building across five South Asian countries: Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives and Nepal. The Korea Labor Foundation selected Sri Lanka as the first country to participate.

"This is the foundation's first international cooperation project with the ADB," said Park Jong-pil, secretary-general of the Korea Labor Foundation. "We will work to ensure that South Korea's experience in employment and labor policy translates into real policy improvements for Sri Lanka."