92% of Part-Time Public Officials Say "Abolish the System and Convert to Full-Time Positions"

"Same Workload, But Pay and Allowances Only Proportional to Hours"

It has been found that the majority of part-time public officials believe that the part-time recruitment system for public officials should be abolished. The main reason cited is that assigning the same workload as full-time public officials while paying salary and allowances proportionally to working hours is unfair.

The National Part-Time Public Officials Labor Union (Chairperson Jung Seonghye, hereafter Part-Time Union) announced on the 24th that, according to the results of the "2025 Survey on the Status of Part-Time Public Officials," 92.1% (1,008 respondents) of those surveyed answered that the system should be abolished.

Image expressing opinions on the abolition of the part-time public servant system. Provided by the Part-Time Public Servants Union.

The primary reason, cited by 56.9% (623 respondents), was that although they are assigned the same workload as full-time officials, their wages are only paid in proportion to their working hours. Another 26.9% (295 respondents) pointed out discrimination issues, such as the calculation of promotion eligibility periods and parental leave periods based on proportional working hours.

The part-time public official recruitment system was introduced in 2014 under the Park Geun-hye administration with the intention of creating quality part-time jobs in the public sector. However, according to the Part-Time Union, since its introduction, the system has been abused and has lost its original purpose, degenerating into a poor-quality employment scheme.

This survey was conducted from July 7 to July 24, with 1,095 part-time public officials participating. Of the respondents, 80.8% (885 individuals) were women and 19.2% (210 individuals) were men.

Regarding current weekly working hours, the largest group was those working 31 to 35 hours per week, with 872 respondents (79.6%). This was followed by 122 respondents (11.1%) working 16 to 20 hours, and 67 respondents (6.1%) working 21 to 25 hours. When asked about overtime work, 883 respondents (80.6%) said they work overtime, while only 212 respondents (19.4%) answered that they do not. Over the past six months, 482 respondents (54.5%) said their average monthly overtime exceeded 21 hours, indicating that many part-time public officials are actually working more than 40 hours per week.

Jung Seonghye, Chairperson of the Part-Time Union, stated, "The Lee Jaemyung administration must now courageously acknowledge the failure of the part-time public official recruitment system, which has only problems remaining, and abolish the system, converting all affected officials to full-time positions." She added that those who wish to work shorter hours can adjust their working time through the currently operating part-time conversion system for public officials.

The Part-Time Union plans to hold a National Assembly forum in September, using the results of this survey and the opinions collected from personnel departments of local governments and central administrative agencies, and will urge the Ministry of Personnel Management and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to abolish the system.