Number of Level 9 Waitlisted Candidates Exceeds Level 7 by Over 9 Times
Making a Living Through Part-Time Jobs and Other Means
It has been revealed that thousands of people who passed the civil service exam are currently waiting without being officially appointed. Most of them are 9th-grade civil servants, forced to find separate means of livelihood, such as part-time jobs.
On the 9th, Yong Hye-in, a member of the Basic Income Party belonging to the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, announced that according to the analysis of the 'Status of Local Government Civil Servant Appointment Waiters' submitted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, there are currently a total of 2,857 local government civil servants waiting nationwide.
By grade, there are 288 waiting for 7th-grade appointments and 2,629 waiting for 9th-grade appointments. The number of 9th-grade waiters is more than nine times that of 7th-grade. By region, Busan had the highest number among local governments nationwide, with 858 people.
Following Busan were Seoul (645), Gyeonggi (434), Daegu (318), Gwangju (158), Incheon (140), Jeonbuk (86), Ulsan (75), Chungbuk (73), Gyeongnam (38), and Jeonnam (32).
Representative Yong pointed to the government's policy of freezing the number of civil servants as the reason for the backlog of successful candidates waiting for appointment. Earlier, the Yoon Seok-yeol administration announced in July last year that it would freeze the number of civil servants for the next five years. As a result, the increase in civil servant recruitment, which had continued since 2009, was halted last year.
According to the current Civil Service Appointment Decree, those waiting for appointment are automatically appointed if they wait up to one year after passing. However, the problem is that they must secure their own means of livelihood during the waiting period.
Because of this, some waiters reportedly earn living expenses by working part-time jobs or, out of necessity, cancel their appointments themselves.
Although there is a practical training system called 'intern civil servants,' it is pointed out that it is insufficient as a means of livelihood. Practical trainees perform the same work as civil servants and receive a salary corresponding to the first step of the pay scale.
However, the salary received during the practical training period is only 80% of the civil servant salary. According to the current civil servant salary table, the first step salary for 7th grade is 1,962,300 KRW per month, and for 9th grade, it is 1,770,800 KRW per month, which is even less than this year's minimum wage (2,010,580 KRW per month based on 209 hours).
Regarding this, Representative Yong said, "Due to the civil servant freeze policy, the backlog of appointment waiters is severe not only among local government civil servants but also in central government departments and educational fields," adding, "Since they have to wait for up to a year without proper means of livelihood, it is necessary for the government to prepare measures to alleviate the anxiety of appointment waiters and to enable early appointment."
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