Job Market Tightens... Public Enterprise Job Seekers Feeling 'Relative Deprivation'

After the 'In-guk-gong Incident,' Public Enterprise Job Seekers Complain of Reverse Discrimination and Move Toward Collective Action
Public Recruitment Sees Declining Private Sector Share and Increasing Public Enterprise Share Over Several Years
Amid Fierce Competition, Large-Scale Conversion to Non-Regular Positions... Feeling of 'Relative Deprivation'
Blue House Makes Daily Efforts to Calm Anger: "This Regular Employment Conversion Is Not Related to Construction Jobs"

Public service exam candidates studying at an academy in Noryangjin. / Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Lim Juhyung] Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) announced that it will directly employ about 1,900 security screening workers, who were previously affiliated with its partner companies, as security guards. Following this, voices of 'reverse discrimination' have been rising, especially among job seekers.

The so-called 'IIAC incident' has angered job seekers due to their growing anxiety over the gradually decreasing number of public recruitment (open recruitment) positions available to young people.

As private companies reduce open recruitment, job seekers rely heavily on public enterprise recruitment. In this context, the large-scale conversion of non-regular employees to regular positions without a separate selection process has caused a sense of relative deprivation.

After the 'IIAC incident,' anger among young people has spread mainly through social networking services (SNS) and online communities such as job seeker cafes. Some job seekers have initiated a movement called the 'Broken Pen Movement' to publicize the issue.

The 'Broken Pen Movement' is interpreted as an expression of the relative deprivation felt by job seekers preparing for public service exams and other open recruitments after the IIAC incident. They feel that employment depends not on fair exams but on changes in government policy, so they would rather break their pens.

On the 24th, a member of the 'Gathering of People Preparing for Public Enterprises' cafe, which has about 550,000 members, urged participation in the 'Broken Pen Movement,' saying, "If non-regular employees are converted to regular positions as they are, the damage will be transferred to other public enterprise job seekers. We must unite and express a strong stance on this reverse discrimination incident."

Image of the 'Broken Pen Movement' opposing the conversion of non-regular workers to regular positions at Incheon International Airport Corporation. / Photo by 'Gonggibeop-eul Junbihaneun Saramdeul Moim' post capture

Underlying this anger is the anxiety of job seekers about the narrowing job market. As private companies reduce open recruitment, job seekers flock to public enterprise recruitment, and the IIAC incident has poured fuel on the fire.

Private company open recruitment has been steadily decreasing every year. According to a survey conducted in April by the job platform 'Saramin' targeting 428 companies, 78.7% of respondents said they would hire employees only through irregular recruitment in the first half of this year. This is nearly a 10% increase from last year's 69%. Especially among large corporate groups, the proportion of those conducting only irregular recruitment was 60%, more than three times last year's 16.7%.

In fact, LG Group announced on the 9th that it would abolish the existing open recruitment system and introduce an irregular recruitment system where departments can freely post job openings and directly select needed talent at any time. Hyundai and Kia Motors already eliminated new employee open recruitment in the first half of last year and switched to job-specific continuous recruitment.

On the other hand, the scale of public enterprise open recruitment has steadily increased over the past four years. According to the public institution management information disclosure system 'Alio,' the number of public enterprise hires, which was only 5,826 in 2015, increased by 93.6% to 11,283 last year. Including quasi-governmental and other public institutions, the number rose from 19,202 (2015) to 33,447 (2019), a 74.1% increase.

Incheon International Airport Corporation / Photo by Yonhap News

Job seekers and workers in their 20s and 30s expressed understanding of the anger of job seekers over the IIAC incident.

A (29), preparing for employment at an engineering company, said, "It's hard to get a job even at regular private companies these days, so public enterprises must be even tougher. Honestly, if I were preparing for public enterprise recruitment, I would be angry too."

Another job seeker B (29) said, "Public enterprises are extremely competitive, so even building up qualifications for document screening is tough. Everyone is in a difficult situation, so I think there is some resentment."

Worker C (31) said, "I don't agree with the 'Broken Pen Movement.' Non-regular employees must have made their own fierce efforts to reach their positions," but added, "I also think the job seekers' sense of deprivation and frustration is natural. Isn't this basically a fight where everyone is a victim?"

Meanwhile, the government has been trying to calm the anger of job seekers day by day.

Hwang Deoksun, Senior Secretary for Jobs at the Blue House, appeared on KBS Radio on the 24th and said regarding the IIAC incident controversy, "We are not taking away jobs from young people but rather making efforts to increase them," adding, "There will actually be great opportunities for those who wish to apply to IIAC."

When asked if converting many non-regular employees to regular positions would reduce new open recruitment, he explained, "Since our government took office, regular jobs at public institutions have increased by more than 50%. If those who worked as contract workers are converted to regular employees, the opportunities for young people will increase in the long term."

On the following day (25th), Hwang also appeared on TBS Radio's 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' and explained, "Converting non-regular security screening staff to regular positions is unrelated to the jobs of those currently preparing to join the corporation," adding, "The decision to convert security screening personnel to regular positions was not made now but was agreed upon among labor, management, and experts in December 2017 and is now being implemented."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.