Public Sector Regularization Subsidiary Operation Score 50 Points... "Personnel and Labor Improvements Needed"

Ministry of Employment to Announce 'Subsidiary Operation Status Evaluation' Results on 12th
Reflected in Ministry of Economy and Finance's Public Institution Management Evaluation... Average Score 50.4

On the 8th of last month, a press conference was held in front of the Blue House fountain in Jongno-gu, Seoul, announcing the government demands and struggle plans of non-regular workers in the public sector. They demanded the abolition of discrimination in allowances and welfare benefits, the resolution of living wage gaps, strengthening of labor safety, and the regularization of non-regular workers. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Following the completion of the conversion of approximately 192,000 workers to regular positions under the Moon Jae-in administration's public sector regularization policy, it has been found that the personnel and labor management levels of the subsidiaries, where about one-quarter of these workers are employed, are low. An independent evaluation committee appointed by the government gave an average score of 50.4 points for the operation of public sector subsidiaries.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Labor Institute held a "Subsidiary Policy Performance Discussion" at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the 12th, evaluating the management of public sector subsidiaries accordingly. The evaluation targeted 72 parent organizations that converted their subsidiaries to regular positions, assessing the operational status from the establishment of the subsidiaries until August of last year.

By the end of December last year, 192,698 public sector workers had completed their conversion to regular positions, and among them, 49,709 (25.8%) joined subsidiaries. The labor sector has consistently pointed out that subsidiaries tend to have lower management levels, treatment, and employment stability compared to their parent companies.

In March last year, the government decided to reflect the results of this subsidiary operation evaluation in the public institution management evaluation conducted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance through the "Public Institution Subsidiary Operation Improvement Measures." The evaluation was conducted over three months from October to December last year by an evaluation committee composed of external members.

Source=Ministry of Employment and Labor·Korea Labor Institute

After evaluating 11 detailed indicators including management, contracts, personnel, and labor, the converted score out of 100 points was only an average of 50.4 points. Kwon Soon-won, professor at Sookmyung Women's University and chair of the evaluation committee, explained, "Considering that the subsidiaries were newly established and that from the next evaluation onward, the degree of improvement compared to the previous year will be assessed, relatively low scores were given."

In particular, the evaluation committee diagnosed that there are many areas for improvement in the personnel and labor sector. Specifically, the consensus is that there are many points to improve in areas such as ▲establishment and operation of joint labor-management councils between parent and subsidiary companies ▲introduction of worker board observer systems to secure management transparency ▲enhancement of subsidiary operation expertise including training personnel and budgets ▲rational personnel management such as the introduction and operation of a pre-screening system for non-regular workers.

Kim Hyun-bae, a labor attorney and head of the personnel and labor evaluation team, said, "Since the subsidiaries are in the early stages, labor-management relations tended to be deprioritized, there was a lack of management personnel in subsidiaries, and there was a tendency for parent organizations to maintain vested interests." He added, "In particular, the scores for indicators related to the improvement of labor-management related laws and systems were very low."

Source=Ministry of Employment and Labor·Korea Labor Institute

An official from the Ministry of Employment and Labor who participated as a discussant said, "Based on the discussions, we will seek improvement measures for subsidiary operations and evaluation systems."

Park Hwa-jin, Vice Minister of Employment and Labor, emphasized in his congratulatory remarks, "For the employment stability and improvement of treatment of subsidiary workers, stable, independent, and professional operation of subsidiaries is important." He added, "We will continuously guide and manage subsidiaries to operate in line with policy intentions through consulting support and subsidiary evaluations."

Hwang Deok-soon, President of the Korea Labor Institute, said in the opening remarks, "Through this subsidiary evaluation, we were able to confirm not only policy performance but also future improvement tasks." He expressed hope that "the discussion forum will lay the foundation for subsidiaries to be operated desirably."