The South Korean government will give cash incentives to more youths hired by small and medium-sized enterprises next year, the nation’s top economic policymaker said Wednesday.

The plan comes as youth unemployment among those aged between 15 and 29 has continued to rise, from 8 percent in 2013 to 9.2 percent in 2015. In the first 10 months of this year, it hit 10.1 percent, government data showed.

Yoo Il-ho, minister of strategy and finance, said the government would raise the target number for its youth employment and asset accumulation program, offering cash to those hired as regular workers after finishing internships at SMEs, to 50,000 next year from 10,000 this year.

Currently, the government helps an intern-turned-employee at an SME accumulate 12 million won ($10,277) in assets, if the SME hires the intern as a regular worker for two years, on the condition that the employee saves 3 million won during the period. The government gives 3.9 million won to the SME, which relays 3 million won to the employee. Another 6 million won is given by the government to the employee. In total, an employee at an SME would save 12 million won in two years.

“The government will nurture the program as a major project to support youths to continue working at SMEs and help them accumulate assets. The government will expand the subscription target to 50,000 in 2017,” Yoo said at an economy-related ministers’ meeting in Seoul.

The expansion of the program will cost about 50.8 billion won, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

Up to this point, the government has provided 1.8 million won to SMEs for hiring an intern for three months, and an additional 3.9 million won for later employing the intern as a regular worker. Instead, the government will now scrap intern support subsidies but give 5 million won to the SMEs if they maintain the employment for two years under the youth asset accumulation program. Those not part of the program will not be eligible for the related cash incentives, it said

To promote female employment, Yoo said the government would push public entities to publicly disclose how they have worked on encouraging parental leave and give higher grades to family-friendly ones.

Amid the sluggish economy and work-life imbalance, the on-year gain in the number of parental leave takers plummeted to 3.8 percent in the first nine months of this year from 13.7 percent in 2015, according to government data.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)