New data has set alarm bells ringing over the long term sustainability of South Korea’s public services.
Figures released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government found that half of all employees who quit their jobs last year had worked for less than five years at their posts.
In March, the Ministry of Personnel Management announced that competition for an entry-level Public Service job was its lowest in more than 30 years.
The Public Service, once highly coveted by young workers, is no longer the dream job.
Security of employment and a certain pension are not enough to retain or attract younger generations of workers who increasingly prioritise individual purpose, a horizontal and efficient work culture, immediate compensation and career prospects.
A job where you can never be fired is a double-edged sword, according to Kang Na-yun (not her real name), a Sejong City official who started work in 2019.
She explained how job security at the absolute highest level in a Korean Government institution can be counter-productive, as there was no motivation for a worker to excel at his or her job.
“If you’re singled out at work (for being good at work), the only reward you get is even more work,” she said.
“People start dumping their work onto you, and it’s not as if they even appreciate it.”
Among the most obvious reasons people are turning away from Government jobs is that they just do not pay enough.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government recently conducted a survey of 550 newly-employed Government officials about their biggest concern and 28 per cent answered “financial issues from a low salary”.
The starting monthly salary for the lowest grade Public Servant is 1.77 million won ($A1,911) as of 2023, less than the approximately 2 million won ($A2,248) that can be earned working the same number of hours for the minimum adult wage.
Entry-level Public Servants are entitled to a lunch stipend, holiday bonuses and other benefits, but even with these, the monthly salary hovers around the 2.1 million won ($A2,360) range.
In contrast, the starting salary for jobs at major corporations in 2022 was nearly 4.5 million won ($A5,058) a month.
Seoul, 20 April 2023
