The purpose of this study is to develop 2012 Regional Development Index(RDI) for improving the policy-making processes and strategies for rural development. The target of this study was 161 cities and counties nationwide excluding the districts of Seoul and other six metropolitan cities in South Korea(out of consideration for comparability). RDI, a comprehensive index, is composed of four sectoral indices; ‘Living Service Index’, ‘Regional Economy Index’, ‘Space for Relaxation Index’, and ‘Resident Vitality Index’. To reflect experts' perspectives and further ensure this study's robustness, we utilized analytic hierarchy program(AHP) in judging each index's weighted values.
According to 2012 RDI, three sectoral indices among the four except the ‘Space for Relaxation Index’ showed that the cities and counties around metropolitan areas were ranked high compared with others places. The result illustrates government policy's tendency for concentrated investment around densely populated areas, jobs that have been created around cities, and the aging trend and decrease of rural population nationwide. It inevitably directs policy-makers towards reconsidering their regional development strategies.
This study also includes a specialized index, ‘Job Creation Sustainability Index(JCSI)’, in which we tried to analyze the extent of correlation between RDI and job creation around the cities and counties. This time it first tracked down how the target cities and counties fared in three categories of the index (to understand the trends in job creation in South Korea); ‘Newly-created Jobs’, ‘Job Creation Sustainability’, and ‘Alternative Job Creation’. Then, in the analysis of the correlation between RDI and job creation, we found out that factors like the provision of new housing, the influx of “non-aged” population, and the extent of the soundness of regional governments' financial status were crucial for increasing the number of jobs created.

Researchers: Mi-Ryung Song, Ju-In Seong, Kwang-Sun Kim, Jong-Hyun Chae and Yong-Woog Choi
Research period: 2012. 9. - 2012. 11.
E-mail address: mrsong@krei.re.kr