South Korea is the country with the highest concentration of economic activity, employment, population and infrastructure in its capital. 52% of young people live in the Seoul metropolitan area. The result is that, while the capital grows, entire regions lose young populations, small businesses become empty, and labor shortages become a brake on development.
In this context, the job search platform Worxphere and the Cheil agency have launched the “Jobstay Project”, an initiative that rethinks temporary work as a tool to combat regional decline from direct experience.
The project has been developed as a hybrid proposal between travel experience and temporary employment
The idea comes from an internal analysis with Worxsphere data. The company identified regions with a lower presence of job seekers in their twenties, high rates of unfilled vacancies and, at the same time, territories that young people themselves declared as places where they would like to live. From this intersection three priority destinations emerged: Busan, Tongyeong and Gyeongju.
Busan, for example, has the lowest youth population ratio among the country’s six large metropolitan cities.
From there, the project has been developed as a hybrid proposal between travel and employment. Young university students and students who have just finished the university entrance exam – a stage in which many begin to work for the first time – travel to these regions for two weeks. There they work in small local businesses while living the cultural experience of the territory.
Designed as a “travel package,” the proposal includes accommodation, transportation and activities. The difference is the exchange model: instead of paying with money, participants contribute their time and labor. They were selected after a process with 250 applicants per position and ended up joining 15 local businesses in the three cities.
When choosing the workplaces, businesses with community value or at risk of disappearing were prioritized: a family business that markets traditional Busan seaweed, an establishment linked to the production of Korean meat in Gyeongju or a resort managed by a neighborhood cooperative on an island in Tongyeong. Thus, the project covers specific vacancies while seeking to sustain local industries with their own identity.
In their free time, they can explore the region and generate content in exchange for local currency
During their free time, participants can explore each region and generate content about the destination. As compensation for this promotional activity, they do receive local currency for expenses, which reinforces consumption in their own territory and expands the economic impact.
“As a platform leading the temporary work culture in Korea, we want to offer alternatives that respond to Generation Z’s desire for unique experiences while helping regional small businesses with their hiring challenges”says Summer Kim, Marketing Director at Worxphere.
From the agency, Hyekyung Jeong, Director at Cheil Korea, explains the strategic approach: “We believed that the regional labor shortage could align with young people’s interest in work experiences linked to travel. Living and working in these regions can change perceptions about life outside the metropolitan area.”
As reported in the campaign statement, the impact has been reflected in future intention: all participants stated that they would consider living and working in regions outside of Seoul. Hence, Worxsphere and Cheil have started conversations with local governments and the Korea Fisheries Resources Agency to consolidate the project as a long-term sustainable model. The ambition is that the experience is not limited to two weeks, but rather functions as a gateway to more stable job mobility.
