The Seoul city government yesterday announced a plan to create more than 220,000 jobs in the public sector, investing 448.1 billion won ($415.4 million) this year alone.

Dubbing the initiative “Seoul’s New Deal Policy,” the city hopes it will contribute to reducing the nation’s unemployment rate, especially among young people. But the positions are limited. They include nursing and child care assistance, security officers for public spaces and research assistants for NGOs.

The jobs will be for six hours a day and last for a maximum of eight months. The positions offered by the Seoul Metropolitan Government won’t provide very useful experience, said the Youth Community Union. Founded in 2010, the association of young people is devoted to conducting labor policy analysis.

“I agree with the city government’s principal and intention,” said Jeong Joon-young, director of the organization, “but I doubt the experience will really lead young people to find decent jobs.

“Although the city is calling them jobs, they only last six hours. The city government needs to discuss ways to turn the positions into more serious, relevant ones.”

The job program requires cooperation from the private sector because some of the jobs come from that sector. But that cooperation has been rocky. Last year, the municipal government spent only 54 percent of the budget because it wasn’t able to find institutions willing to offer any positions. Even among the jobs offered, some faced a shortfall of candidates. For example, a project examining the history of Seoul’s old villages saw lower competition for places than expected.

Despite the downbeat results, the city office allocated 448.1 billion won of its budget to the program, a 5.9 percent increase from last year. The division of job creation policy said this year’s hourly pay has been raised to 6,000 won from last year’s 4,890 won.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [ejpark@joongang.co.kr]