The importance of education welfare is growing as a means of preventing the education gap from widening as a result of the educational environment and socioeconomic inequalities deteriorating following the Covid-19 pandemic. It is crucial that no one, in a time of crisis or otherwise, be put in a disadvantageous position in education because of their socioeconomic disadvantage or lack of access to resources. In this regard, it is essential that education welfare projects are designed and delivered so as to provide equal opportunities for education to students and outside-of-school adolescents alike. This study examines the concept of education welfare as presented in relevant legal frameworks and municipal ordinances, analyzes the education welfare projects implemented by the central and municipal governments and local offices of education, and presents improvement options.

In 2020, Korea spent 0.83 percent of its GDP on disability policies, just over one-third of the OECD average. Disability benefits in kind as a share of GDP have approximated the OECD average, but disability cash benefits constituted less than a quarter of the OECD average as a share of GDP. Despite Korea’s overall public social expenditure fast approaching the OECD average, spending on disability increased only at such a relatively moderate pace that it is hard to expect that it will soon reach a proportion anywhere near considered in balance with the rest of public social expenditure. Korea’s spending on disability policies remaining at such low levels as a share of GDP is attributable to disability assistance programs remaining low in both coverage and benefit level. Unless substantial changes are made to disability cash assistance, which as a share of GDP still falls far below the OECD average, Korea’s overall spending on disability policies is likely to remain low compared to the OECD average.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought on significant changes in the lives of both non-disabled people and individuals living with disabilities. Throughout and following quarantine, screening, self-imposed isolation, or testing positive for the virus, people with disabilities, in particular, have experienced unequal access to and exclusion from response resources, along with anxiety and depressive symptoms at varying degrees depending on their functional limitations, as well as a higher burden of care on their families. Disability care has been recognized as crucial not only for people with disabilities, who rely heavily on it in much of their daily life, but also for their families. This study assesses the limitations of the current disability care system and, in light of how the system fell short during the pandemic situation in Korea and by drawing lessons from how the UK and the US responded to the needs of people with disabilities during the height of Covid-19, proposes the direction in which Korea should be going. Disability care in these times of endemic Covid-19 should be structured in a way that promotes, with a focus on “locality,” flexible community-led care and the participation of disabled community members themselves.

Our analysis of trends in the poverty rate and their influencing factors, conducted using data from the Survey of Household Finances and Living Conditions, revealed that the disposable-income poverty rate for disabled persons declined from 47.0 percent in 2012 to 43.0 percent in 2016. In the years 2016 through 2020, a period examined based on combined data―survey data supplemented with administrative records―the disposable-income poverty rate declined from 40.7 percent to 39.6 percent. Despite the continuous expansion of public transfers, disabled people did not see their disposable-income poverty rate fall all that much because of the increase in their market-income poverty rate. Our in-depth examination revealed that the rise in the market-income poverty rate among disabled people can be attributed to changes in their sociodemographic composition. These changes included aging, an increasing share of one-person households, and a declining proportion of disabled individuals cohabitating with non-disabled family members.

The cost of illness, a monetary estimate of costs arising from illness, serves as a useful indicator for assessing the socioeconomic value of health and for analyzing disparities in health outcomes between groups and across subnational regions. The cost of illness has been growing in Korea, with the proportion due to premature death from illness declining and the proportion due to living with illness growing. From a sociodemographic perspective, there is a need for health management policies targeting the population groups with increasing health care utilization, not least those age groups of either sex that remain a major active part of Korea’s socioeconomic landscape. Regional variations in the cost of illness have increased in recent years across cities, counties, and districts throughout the country. Policy interventions are required to address disparities in transportation expenditures, which this study finds vary more pronouncedly across regions than the other cost items. Moreover, caregiver costs also demand attention, as their regional variation has shown an increase in recent years.

Gender pension gaps in European countries, having been consistently kept in check as a core social policy indicator since the beginning of the 2000s, have increasingly narrowed in recent years. Korea’s National Pension is paying out an increasing amount of benefits to a growing number of recipients, but there still remain significant gaps between men and women in the number of years of contribution payments and the pension receipt rate. In Korea, women in many cases fail to secure an adequate level of pensions as, in addition to the fact that the pension rights they have are often of a derivative nature, such as survivor's pension entitlement, it is difficult in many ways for them to stay enrolled long-term―say, 20 years or longer―in the system. Reducing gender pension gaps requires proactive efforts to ensure more women have their own pension entitlements based on more years of contribution payments.

The latest financial projections of the National Pension and other occupational pension schemes have cast doubt on the sustainability of the public pension system. Public pensions are already beset by financial imbalances due to severe birth rate declines, population aging, and their payment structure where pensioners receive substantially more in benefits than they have paid in contributions. The civil servants’ pension and the military pension, their funds already depleted, have been running growing deficits despite the financial backing they have been receiving from the government. The National Pension and the private school teachers’ pension are on track to see their reserves depleted in 2055 and 2049, respectively. The National Health Insurance and various social welfare programs implemented in the form of social assistance, having grown in expenditures as over time their target groups have expanded, face concerns over their financial sustainability. According to the Long-Term Financial Outlook for the National Health Insurance 2020~2060 of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, if its contribution rates remain capped at 8 percent and the level of government subsidy is maintained at the current level of 14 percent of the amount of anticipated contribution revenue, the National Health Insurance will see its surpluses accruing now turn in 2029 into deficits, which by 2060 will reach an estimated KRW5,765 trillion. The basic pension is also a fiscal concern, as, amid the ongoing discussions about increasing its monthly benefit to KRW 400 thousand, it is expected that, with the rapid aging of the population, the number of its recipients will increase from 6 million in 2021 to 13 million in 2060. Against the background of rising social concerns regarding social security programs, including public pension schemes, and growing social demands for their improvement, this study revisits the current state of social security financial projections and explores options for improvement.

Customer service workers experience various mental health issues due to their emotional labor. Since 2018, a law known as the Customer Service Worker Protection Act has been in effect to safeguard these workers. However, policies that are in place for customer service workers, focused exclusively on post-facto interventions such as counseling, have done little to prompt efforts and participation from employers and, with the monitoring of compliance with the Customer Service Worker Protection Act lacking, have been rendered less than effective in promoting workers’ mental health. The guidelines of international organizations emphasize the need for workers’ mental health promotion, the importance of early intervention, and the role of employers in that effort. Advanced countries have in place a collaborative mechanism whereby, when it comes to policies on workplace mental health promotion, the government, labor unions, and employers work together in the whole process, from making to implementing them. They also mandate regular checkups on workers’ stress levels. Therefore, Korea should consider implementing regular mental health checkups, providing workplace visiting health services, strengthening the monitoring of compliance with the Customer Service Worker Protection Law, encouraging tripartite engagement, and facilitating employer participation and efforts.