Youth Community Union

What Youth Community Union does

Youth Community Union (청년유니온) is a private, member-governed labor union founded in March 2010 in Seoul, South Korea, that serves young people aged 15-39 regardless of employment status. It is the first labor union in Korea specifically targeting the youth segment across employment categories, including part-time, contract, non-regular workers, freelancers, and job seekers. The organization operates through 8 regional branches (Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Daegu, Busan, Gwangju, Daejeon, Gyeongnam) and a central Seoul headquarters (04516 서울시 중구 정동길 12-11, 카리스타워 302호), delivering services through labor consultation, freelancer contract advisory, mental health counseling, labor education/lectures, and policy advocacy.

The underlying technology is a standard website platform (youthunion.kr) used for member registration, consultation intake, content delivery, and newsletter distribution, with third-party vendors handling member data backup, email delivery (Studyvee), and direct mail (Woori DM). Service delivery is human-intensive: consultation is conducted by labor attorneys and certified labor managers, with responses returned within 5 business days; mental health counseling is delivered via a partner medical center. The portfolio includes the Freelancer 114 hotline, a Freelancer Contract Guidebook (December 2023), and a Freelancer Contract Consultation Office operated jointly with partner law firms.

The business model is membership-driven: roughly 70% of revenue comes from member dues set at 1% of monthly income (minimum at the hourly minimum wage, KRW 8,590 as of 2020), collected via a CMS automatic payment system on the 10th, 18th, or 27th of each month, with 20% of dues going to headquarters and 80% to regional branches. The remaining ~30% of revenue comes from irregular donations and sponsorship, notably from the Samu Finance Ubuntu Foundation (사무금융우분투재단) for freelancer programs. The union is governed by elected representatives and conducts semi-annual financial audits at general meetings. No parent company, external ownership, funding rounds, or disclosed revenue figures have been identified.

Name

Youth Community Union

Legal name

청년유니온 (Youth Community Union)

Website

https://youthunion.kr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Youth Community Union is a Seoul-based, member-governed labor union founded in 2010 that serves young Koreans aged 15-39 across employment categories, delivering labor consultation, freelancer contract advisory, mental health counseling, and policy advocacy through 8 regional branches.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Seoul

HQ country

South Korea

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Primary revenue source (~70% of budget). Members pay 1% of monthly income as dues, with minimum amount set to hourly minimum wage. CMS automatic payment system on selected dates (10th, 18th, 27th of each month).
2. Non-regular Donations/Sponsorship: Approximately 30% of budget from irregular donations and sponsorship, including support from organizations like 사무금융우분투재단 for specific programs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Youth Community Union (청년유니온) is a labor union serving young people aged 15-39 in South Korea regardless of employment status. The organization provides labor consultation, freelancer contract advisory, mental health counseling, labor law education, policy advocacy, and community-building activities through 8 regional branches. It also offers a membership program where dues are set at 1% of monthly income.

Product overview

Youth Community Union operates as a labor union for young people aged 15-39, offering a portfolio of services including labor consultation, freelancer contract advisory, mental health counseling, labor education programs, and a membership system. The organization functions through regional branches (Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Daegu, Busan, Gwangju, Daejeon, Gyeongnam) and provides both direct consultation services and educational resources to advocate for youth labor rights.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Labor Consultation (노동상담)
• Freelancer Contract Consultation Office (프리랜서 계약 상담소)
• Heart Counseling Office (마음상담소)
• Freelancer 114 (프리랜서 114)
• Labor Education/Lectures (노동교육/강연)
• Freelancer Contract Guidebook (프리랜서 계약 가이드북)
• Membership Program (조합원/후원회원 가입)

Quantifiable outcome

• 67 reports of workplace harassment received in game industry survey
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• Jeon Tae-il Medical Center Maeum Counseling Center (전태일의료센터 마음상담소)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for mental health counseling services. Offers psychological counseling with income-based cost support: 90% subsidy for those below median income, sliding scale for others. Youth Union members receive 20% discount regardless of income.
• Labor Law Firm Urin (노무법인우린)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Freelancer Contract Consultation Office (프리랜서계약상담소), providing legal review of freelancer contracts with expert labor lawyers and certified labor managers.
• Labor Law Firm Hadun Gyeonggi Center (노무법인 해든 경기센터)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBusiness agreement signed August 2024 for freelancer contract consultation office operations. Provides expert labor law consultation for freelancer contract disputes.
• Hanbit Media Labor Rights Center (한빛미디어노동인권센터)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBoard participation and collaborative research. Jointly conducting YouTube editor interviews and publishing interview collections. Part of media labor rights ecosystem.
• Korea Non-regular Labor Center (한국비정규노동센터)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerParticipation in bimonthly irregular labor publication editorial committee. Contributing '청년고함' column to irregular labor publication.
• Studyvee (스티비)Technology or IntegrationEmail newsletter delivery service provider. Handles email newsletter distribution for member communications.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Korean Confederation Trade Unions (KCTU / 민주노총): Largest national trade union federation in South Korea representing workers across sectors. Comparable as a Korean labor union umbrella body, though KCTU is sector-agnostic and politically more confrontational versus Youth Community Union's youth/community-union model.
• Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU / 한국노총): Second major national trade union center in South Korea, affiliated with industry unions. Comparable as a Korean union federation serving worker representation, but focused on traditional enterprise-level bargaining rather than youth-specific community organizing.
• Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service (KCOMWEL): Public Korean institution providing employment insurance, workers' compensation, and welfare services. Comparable as a Korean worker-support service organization but operating as a government entity rather than membership-based union.

Emerging players

• Korean Lawyers for a Democratic Society (민주법률가): Progressive Korean lawyers' association providing legal aid and advocacy for workers and marginalized groups. Comparable because it provides labor-rights legal support to vulnerable constituencies and engages in policy advocacy, similar to Youth Community Union's contract-review and labor-counseling services.
• People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (참여연대): Major Korean civic advocacy organization with campaigns spanning labor rights, social welfare, and policy reform. Comparable as a membership-supported NGO pursuing structural policy change, though broader in scope than Youth Community Union's youth-labor focus.
• National Union of Media Workers (전국미디어노동조합): Korean labor union for media workers including journalists and content creators. Comparable as a Korean sector-specific labor union with similar advocacy and contract-support services; Youth Community Union has formal collaboration with related media labor rights entities.
• Migrant Workers' Trade Union (이주노동자노동조합): Independent Korean union representing migrant workers facing legal protection gaps. Comparable as a non-traditional Korean union organizing workers excluded from conventional bargaining structures — similar service model (consultation, advocacy, education) for a vulnerable constituency.
• Korea Women's Workers' Associations United (한국여성노동자회): Korean association supporting women workers through counseling, education, and policy advocacy. Comparable as a Korean identity-segmented worker advocacy group offering consultation, education, and policy engagement — Youth Community Union participates in its solidarity events.

Others

• Korea Labor Institute (한국노동연구원): Government-funded Korean research institute producing labor-market research and policy analysis. Comparable because Youth Community Union engages in policy research and proposal publishing; KLI operates as a research counterpart rather than direct competitor.

Regional players

• Freelancers Union (US): US-based nonprofit providing health insurance, advocacy, and resources to independent workers. Comparable as an internationally recognized model of a membership-based organization serving freelancers/independent workers, similar conceptual positioning to Youth Community Union's freelancer-focused services in Korea.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/y.union1030
• Instagraminstagram.com/y.union1030
• Xx.com/union1030

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Youth Community Union