Public Sector Jobs Increase by 150,000 in One Year... Largest Growth Ever Recorded

Statistics Korea Announces '2019 Public Sector Job Statistics' on the 20th
Job Growth Across All Age Groups Centered on Those in Their 40s

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Public sector jobs increased by 151,000 compared to the previous year in 2019. This is the largest increase since statistics began in 2016. The number of jobs in public administration and national defense rose significantly due to the increase in firefighters and police officers.

According to Statistics Korea on the 20th, public sector jobs in 2019 totaled 2,602,000, an increase of 152,000 from the previous year. This is the largest increase since 2017, when jobs increased by 47,000 (2.0%). Regarding this, Statistics Korea explained, "The increase in public sector jobs is due to the addition of about 5,000 firefighters and 5,000 police officers each."

Government jobs reached 2.22 million, up 123,000 from the previous year, while public enterprise jobs increased by 28,000 to 382,000. The proportion of public sector jobs in total employment rose by 0.5 percentage points to 9.5%.

Jobs increased across all age groups, centered on those in their 40s. The largest increase was among people in their 30s at 27.5%, followed by those in their 30s (25.5%), 50s (23.5%), under 29 (16.0%), and 60 and over (7.5%).

Meanwhile, public sector jobs for those aged 60 and over also increased. Jobs for those aged 60 and above rose by 36,000 from 159,000 in 2018 to 195,000 in 2019.

While continuous and new jobs increased, replacement jobs decreased. Continuous jobs held by the same workers as the previous year numbered 2,252,000, up 71,000 from 2,181,000 a year earlier. On the other hand, replacement jobs, where workers were replaced due to resignation or retirement, decreased by 25,000 to 194,000 from 219,000 a year earlier.

Due to policies converting non-regular workers to regular positions, jobs held by public officials in government agencies reached 1,359,000. This was 2.1 times the 637,000 jobs held by non-public officials.