Status of Regular Employment Conversion for Public Enterprise 'Contract and Dispatched Workers'
KEPCO Exceeds Regular Employment Conversion Target by Over 300% This Year
Public Institution Employees Increase by 70,000 While Debt Rises by 30 Trillion Won
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The scale of regular employee conversion for dispatched and outsourced workers at Incheon International Airport Corporation has exceeded the annual plans every year since the Moon Jae-in administration began in 2017. Even excluding the recently controversial 1,900 security screening workers, this year's conversion performance surpassed 125% of the target. This highlights how aggressively the regularization was pursued to comply with government policies. While the number of public institution employees increased by 70,000, the debt scale rose by 30 trillion won.
According to Alio, the public institution management information disclosure system, as of the 25th, the conversion performance of dispatched and outsourced personnel at Incheon Airport Corporation has exceeded the original plans every year for four years from 2017 to this year. The number of workers converted to regular employees was 1,004 in 2017 (102.7% of the planned conversion), 1,741 in 2018 (107.1%), and 758 last year (144.1%). This year, 1,296 workers were converted in the first quarter alone, achieving 125.7% of the planned conversion. This figure excludes the 1,902 security screening personnel (dispatched workers) whom the corporation recently decided to directly employ as security guards. Incheon International Airport Corporation is not the only public enterprise aggressively pushing regularization under the government's 'zero irregular workers' policy.
Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) converted 5,688 dispatched and outsourced workers to regular employees last year, achieving more than 290% of the original plan (1,956 workers). The first quarter conversion performance this year also recorded 2,315 workers, reaching an astonishing 338% of the plan. Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) also exceeded its target by converting 569 dispatched and outsourced workers last year, achieving 160.3%. A public enterprise official stated, "The final number of regular employee conversions is confirmed through consultations among labor, management, and experts," adding, "It appears that the actual conversion numbers exceeded the initial plans during the process."
Public enterprises are companies in which the government directly or indirectly invests, holds ownership, or exercises control. When inefficiencies in public institutions increase, the tax burden inevitably rises. However, public institution innovation has been nowhere to be seen, and the workforce has only grown, leading to an oversized scale. According to Alio, the total number of employees in public institutions increased from 346,000 in 2017 to 418,000 in the first quarter of this year. The debt scale of public institutions rose by about 30 trillion won, from 495.2 trillion won in 2017 to 525.1 trillion won last year.
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