Public Institutions to Hire 22,000+ This Year... Lowest in 6 Years

Public Institution Hiring Scale 'Outline'
Choo: "Public Institution Efficiency... Maintain Hiring at Usual Levels"
21,000 Youth Interns... High School Graduate Rate at 8% Range
TOEIC Validity Period Extended up to 5 Years

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] Domestic public institutions will newly hire more than 22,000 personnel this year. The validity period for language test scores required for public institution job applications will be extended from the current 2 years to up to 5 years.

On the morning of the 1st, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho attended the '2023 Public Institution Recruitment Information Fair' held at the aT Center in Yangjae-dong, Seoul, and announced this. In his opening remarks, Deputy Prime Minister Choo said, "Public institutions, which are a strong pillar of the employment market, will newly hire more than 22,000 people this year," adding, "While streamlining the bloated public institutions, we will secure as much capacity as possible for new hires to maintain the recruitment scale at the usual level."

Of course, the recruitment scale set by Deputy Prime Minister Choo is lower than the number of new hires by public institutions over the past five years. According to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, excluding special factors such as conversion to regular positions, domestic public institutions have newly hired an average of 25,000 personnel annually from 2017 to last year. However, considering the government's policy of 'slimming down public institutions' and the implementation of high-intensity restructuring, this is regarded as a considerable scale.

This year, the number of youth interns at public institutions will be expanded to 21,000. Deputy Prime Minister Choo said, "To help young people build employment capabilities, we will increase the number of youth interns to 21,000, which is 2,000 more than last year," and added, "We plan to assign tasks that can help strengthen practical skills such as analysis and research."

Recruitment of high school graduates and persons with disabilities will also be expanded. The government's target ratio for hiring high school graduates at public institutions this year is in the 8% range. This is more than 0.5 percentage points higher than last year's high school graduate hiring rate of 7.5%. The government also plans to raise the employment rate of persons with disabilities at public institutions from the current 3% range to the 4% range. The mandatory employment rate for persons with disabilities in domestic public institutions is 3.6%. Deputy Prime Minister Choo stated, "We will further strengthen efforts for socially equitable recruitment such as hiring high school graduates and persons with disabilities."

The validity period for language test scores submitted when applying to public institutions will also be extended from the current 2 years to up to 5 years. When applicants register official English test scores such as TOEIC or TOEFL with the Ministry of Personnel Management's Cyber National Examination Center, the scores will be recognized for up to 5 years from the test date. The government plans to deliver recruitment guidelines extending the validity period of language test scores to public institutions within next week.

Deputy Prime Minister Choo reiterated the government's commitment to job policies on the day. He said, "The number of people supported for advanced industry job training, which is designed and operated by large corporations and is in high demand among youth, has been expanded from 28,000 to 36,000," adding, "Starting this year, programs supporting labor market entry and re-entry for youth who have given up job searching and youth challenge preparation funds of up to 3 million won will be provided." Deputy Prime Minister Choo added, "We will execute the job budget as early as possible in the first half of the year so that young people can see the effects quickly."