Analysis of Job Performance in 25 Seoul District Offices
If the National Sports Festival exists in sports,
the Ministry of Employment's 'Job Award' exists in job policies
Guro, Gangdong, Seongdong, and Seongbuk are model district offices for jobs
The Ministry of Employment and Labor evaluates and rewards job policies of local governments nationwide every August through the 'Job Awards' ceremony. The photo shows job seekers participating in the '2023 Mid-sized Enterprises Job Fair' held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the 3rd of last month. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@
While it is easy to know which neighborhoods have great restaurants, it is not so clear which areas are good at creating jobs. Therefore, the government announces once a year which of the 243 metropolitan and basic local governments nationwide have made the most effort and achieved the best results in job creation.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor holds an awards ceremony every year, similar to a national sports festival, to judge this. The results of one year’s job policy performance of local governments across the country were revealed at the ‘2023 National Local Government Job Awards’ ceremony held by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 2nd. To prevent this from being just a celebration for public officials, it is important to watch such events with interest.
The job policy report card for the 25 autonomous districts of Seoul, home to 9.41 million people, was also disclosed that day. In the main category called the ‘Public Disclosure System,’ Guro-gu received the grand prize. Seongdong-gu, Dongdaemun-gu, Seongbuk-gu, Eunpyeong-gu, and Gwanak-gu won excellence awards, and Dongjak-gu received a special award. In the ‘Outstanding (Individual) Project’ category, which awards individual projects like a side event, Dongjak-gu won the grand prize and Guro-gu won the excellence award.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor also provides incentives to the awarded local governments to supplement their budgets. The grand prize in the Public Disclosure System category comes with a prize of 80 million KRW, while the grand prize in the Outstanding Project category is 6 million KRW, showing a significant difference.
This year, both Guro-gu and Dongjak-gu received two job-related awards each. A Guro-gu official said, “Because Guro-gu has consistently performed well, there was greater pressure,” but added, “The will and interest of the district mayor, who is a G-Valley entrepreneur and understands corporate realities well, combined with a well-established internal system, led to effective results.”
Combining the two categories, Seoul’s autonomous districts received a total of nine awards this year, the first time since the Job Awards took their current form in 2012. Gangseo-gu and Nowon-gu passed the first round of screening but were eliminated in the second round.
The Basic Employment Policy Act stipulates that local government heads must establish and announce job goals and measures to be pursued during their term to local residents. To ensure accountability for job creation, the Ministry of Employment and Labor introduced and has implemented this system since 2010. Since 2012, all local governments nationwide have been required to participate and be evaluated.
‘Public disclosure’ means that the local government head establishes job goals and specific job measures during their term and displays them so residents can see and be informed. The local government head must also post the job goals on the Regional Employment Information Network (public disclosure status) and inform residents through various means such as the local government website, local media, and explanatory meetings for residents. Of course, we do not always check this thoroughly.
Since 2012, Guro-gu has received the grand prize, excellence award, and special award in the Public Disclosure System category, as well as the grand prize and excellence awards in the Outstanding Project category, which started in 2017, a total of 13 times. The only year it did not receive an award was 2015.
Gangdong-gu did not win an award this year but has been listed 11 times until last year. Seongdong-gu (9 times) and Seongbuk-gu (8 times) also had good award records. Eight districts?Gangbuk, Gangseo, Gwangjin, Nowon, Dobong, Seocho, Yongsan, and Jungnang?have not received any awards in the past 12 years.
Are award records important?
Local government heads are elected officials. They are elected every four years by voting. They have political parties and compete with election pledges. Job creation is always included in their pledges. Livelihood issues are important, and therefore residents have high interest. However, verification and evaluation are difficult compared to the level of interest.
In South Korean elections, the key to winning or losing is the affiliated political party and the candidate. Excluding these two factors, the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s job performance evaluation is the best reflection of the local government head’s will and interest in job policies, the local government’s system, and the know-how of the staff in charge.
Guro-gu, Seoul, won awards in two categories at the 2023 National Local Government Job Awards. The man holding flowers in the center of the photo is Moon Heon-il, the district mayor. (Photo by Guro-gu)
Each local government submits its performance over the past year to the Ministry of Employment and Labor every April. After the first screening by the regional employment offices and the second screening by the central office, the final results are confirmed around the end of June each year. The Ministry of Employment and Labor notifies the local governments of the screening results in early July.
The Public Disclosure System category is divided into the comprehensive grand prize (President’s Award), category grand prizes (Prime Minister’s Award), grand prize, excellence award, and special award. The Outstanding Project category has grand prize and excellence awards. The comprehensive grand prize is mainly awarded to metropolitan local governments, with Chilgok-gun in Gyeongbuk being the only basic local government to receive it (in 2014). Before the comprehensive grand prize existed, Suwon-si in Gyeonggi received the grand prize in 2013.
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