Government Plans to Cut Over 1,000 LH Staff
Analysis Suggests Difficulties in New Hiring Until 2024
40% of Resignees Are Practical Workers with Under 10 Years
Organizational Restructuring Delayed... Frontline Sites in Turmoil
Due to the government's strong restructuring policy for Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), it is expected that LH will not be able to hold a new employee recruitment for the first time since its first public recruitment in 2012. Inside and outside the organization, there is an analysis that hiring could be blocked until 2024 if this continues. Although the reduction in staff is aimed at "downsizing" following the land speculation scandal involving executives and employees in new towns, concerns are being raised that side effects may occur due to a severe shortage of field personnel and a decrease in local recruitment.
According to the government and real estate industry on the 16th, LH has reportedly set a policy to effectively halt new recruitment starting this year in accordance with the government's staff reduction plan. The government is currently pushing to reduce LH’s workforce by a total of 1,085 employees and to abolish or transfer 14 functions such as facility performance certification, safety impact assessment, public land site investigation, and green remodeling to other agencies.
With organizational restructuring repeatedly delayed, new recruitment blocked, and the outflow of field personnel accelerating, there is a growing atmosphere of disruption in work. LH originally planned to hire 1,210 people this year, including recruitment-type interns (grades 5 and 6), contract workers, and experiential youth interns, but all plans except for interns and some auxiliary tasks who are not regular employees have been canceled. The second half recruitment should have been announced around this time, but no plans have been released yet. It is highly likely that this will be the first year since LH’s first public recruitment in 2012 that the annual regular employee recruitment will be zero.
Considering that LH has an average annual resignation of around 300 people, it is expected that new recruitment will be difficult at least until 2024 to achieve the staff reduction target. Some express concerns that youth employment difficulties may worsen amid an overall decline in corporate hiring due to COVID-19. In fact, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) used to hire 1,700 people annually but only hired 1,100 (45%) this year, and Korea Airports Corporation (57%) and Korea Railroad Corporation (46%) also significantly reduced their hiring. There is considerable opposition in the Gyeongnam region, where LH headquarters is located. One job seeker said, "I am preparing for employment aiming at LH, but it is uncertain when the recruitment announcement will be posted," adding, "I am worried that there may be no recruitment not only this year but also next year."
Various housing supply measures promoted by LH are also inevitably facing setbacks. As of the end of July, a total of 174 people resigned from LH this year, of which 74 (42.5%) were field-level workers with less than 10 years of service, accounting for nearly half. It is analyzed that social criticism of LH, low salaries, and recently increased workload have combined to severely lower the morale of field personnel unrelated to speculation.
LH is currently promoting projects such as the 3rd New Town, the 2·4 Measures, the Housing Welfare Roadmap, and pre-sale subscriptions under the government's supply expansion policy, but there are opinions that the severe reduction of field personnel inevitably causes work overload. An industry official explained, "Due to political interests, LH’s organizational restructuring is repeatedly delayed, but the field personnel shortage is gradually worsening," adding, "If new recruitment is suspended for a long time, problems such as delays in the main subscription after pre-subscription may occur."
It is reported that LH is maintaining operations as a desperate measure by reducing personnel at headquarters and support departments and reallocating them to field personnel. Doosung Kyu, a senior research fellow at the Korea Construction Industry Research Institute, said, "Since there is a lot of work related to new town development, the government needs to take short-term measures internally within LH to prevent confusion," adding, "I believe that mid- to long-term reorganization should be pursued by the next administration."
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