TOP-DOWN ACTORS

4.3.1.1 The Blue House

The government established the “Presidential Committee on Job Strategy” in order to establish the plans to implement social welfare policies. The Presidential Committee then launched the “Task Force Team of Social Work” in order to review field level problems and discuss policy plans with the relevant ministries and experts in the field of social services.

The Participatory government of the President Noh, Moo-hyun identified “Social Work Policy” as a core policy agenda of the government. The issue of providing social services through employment became important because the government had acknowledged the limitations of the previous employment policy, the public work program. This program provided work opportunities to those who were in conditions of extreme poverty until they get a full-time job. Work opportunities provided by the public work program were meaningful for the training of unskillful workers, and for the provision of work opportunities and of income for vulnerable social groups.

Despite the benefits of the program, at the same time, the level of most of the jobs which were included was mostly of low-quality, such as cleaning tasks, while the work places of the public work program were mainly public areas, such as public parks, streets, and public buildings. Moreover, the regulation of the public work program stipulated that one person can benefit from being employed only for a maximum of two months. In such a short time, workers tended to lose their interests in the job not only because of the short period time of being employed, but also because they were paid the same amount regardless of their performance. From this previous experience, the government became aware also of the limitations of providing unconditional subsidies for beneficiaries, no matter what outcome in terms of performance they achieve. Therefore, the government started to look for another way of providing sustainable work opportunities rather than giving money to the vulnerable only because they are poor.

According to the government report “The Planning Strategy for Employment and Society Cohesion” (Presidential Committee on Job Strategy 2006), “social work”

is given by work places/opportunities created by providing social services to the third sector. Until 2006, work opportunities for the vulnerable social groups had been provided as part of public work program that does not make any profit from the activities. Instead, the government subsidized the beneficiaries when they achieve a minimum level of work in public areas such as government buildings, public parks and streets. Unlike the public work program, the social work program allows intermediaries/agencies to generate extra income by organizing and managing business activities to then invest in and promote social entrepreneurial activities. As a consequence, the Presidential Committee on Job Strategy organized the “Task Force Team for Social Enterprise Promotion Act” which included multiple actors who worked in the field of social entrepreneurship or relevant fields, such as that of self-sufficiency enterprises and of social welfare services. The Task Force Team, government officers from eight different government departments such as the Ministry of Employment and Labor, Ministry of Welfare, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and Ministry of Planning and Budget are also included here as well as representatives from NGOs, such as the Working Together Foundation, and researchers from the Korea Labor Institute which is a government funded national research institute.

4.3.1.2 Government Departments

In the “Task Force Team for Social Enterprise Promotion Act”, eight different government departments were included, namely the Ministry of Labor4, Ministry of Welfare, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and Ministry of Planning and Budget. Although they share a common identity as a government body, they have struggled to achieve consensus on the SEPA since they have different objectives, backgrounds, interests, and strategies towards employment and welfare policies. These struggles between government departments during the law-making process will be analyzed in Chapter Six devoted to the findings of this thesis.

4 _{Ministry of Labor changed its name to Ministry of Employment and Labor in 5 July 2010 when}

4.3.1.3 Political Parties

Political parties also have been involved in the institution-building project of social enterprises because in South Korea only the members of the national assembly have the right to introduce a new legislative bill. In 2006, the Uri Party was the ruling party while the Hannara Party represented the leading opposition. The legislative bill of the Uri Party reflected the government’s approach on social enterprises, while the bill of the Hannara Party reflected to a greater extent the oppositional discourse. The struggles between two parties with their discourses included in each legislative bill will be analyzed in Chapter 6, where the Findings are presented.

4.3.1.4 Korea Labor Institute (KLI)

The Korea Labor Institute (KLI) is one of national research institutes funded by the government. The KLI played an important role in the development of a blue print of the SEPA. Researchers at the KLI carried out pre-research on social enterprise phenomena and policies in South Korea and other countries, and collected opinions from the field. As a result, the KLI had developed a very close relationship with both top-down and bottom-up actors in the field.