This Year, 27,195 Local Government Officials to Be Hired... 13% Increase in Nursing and Health Fields

Reflecting Demand in Infectious Disease Response and Social Welfare·Life Safety Fields
Gyeonggi 6,160, Seoul 4,223, Gyeongbuk 2,009 in Order
Expanded Selection Opportunities for Disabled, Low-Income, and High School Graduates (Expected)
Grade 9 Exam on June 5, Grade 7 Exam on October 16

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The government will newly hire about 27,000 local government officials in fields such as public health, nursing for infectious disease response, social welfare, and public safety.

On the 24th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced plans to newly recruit 27,195 local government officials this year according to the new recruitment plan. This number reflects the demand for frontline personnel in resident-facing areas such as social welfare and public safety, including staff for infectious disease response like public health and nursing, as well as increased demand due to retirements and parental leave. Last year's local government recruitment plan was for 32,042 officials.

Due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the number of recruits in related fields such as nursing and public health increased by 13.4% compared to the previous year. By job type, there will be 25,610 general positions, 1,498 fixed-term positions, 49 special appointments, and 38 professional career positions.

By job category, the plan is to recruit 2,957 social welfare officials due to the expansion of visiting health and welfare services, 2,338 nursing and public health officials for regional health, safety, and resident field services, and 3,742 facility management officials. By city and province, the numbers are Gyeonggi-do (6,160), Seoul (4,223), Gyeongbuk (2,009), Jeonnam (1,832), and Gyeongnam (1,706) in order.

New personnel will be selected through open competitive exams for 22,741 positions (83.6%) and career competitive exams for 4,454 positions (16.4%). To quickly secure infectious disease response personnel for COVID-19, many local governments plan to hold career competitive exams before May for some of the recruitment positions.

To realize social integration and secure diversity in public service, opportunities for recruitment of persons with disabilities, low-income groups, and high school graduates (expected) will also be expanded. The separate recruitment for persons with disabilities targets the 7th and 9th grade exams with 1,429 positions (5.7%), which is higher than the legally mandated employment rate of 3.4%.

Separate recruitment for low-income groups targets the 9th grade exam with 826 positions (3.9%), exceeding the legal employment rate of 2%, and 373 positions will be recruited this year through career competitive exams for 9th grade technical high school graduates (expected).

The nationwide simultaneous written exams for open and career competitive recruitment will be held on June 5 for the 9th grade and October 16 for the 7th grade. Detailed information such as the number of recruits by city and province can be checked on local government websites and the integrated internet application center for local government recruitment. Additionally, starting this year, for the 7th grade open competitive exam, English and Korean history among the first-stage required subjects will be replaced by proficiency tests, and duplicate applications for the open and career competitive exams held simultaneously nationwide in June and October will be restricted.

Park Seong-ho, Director of Local Autonomy and Decentralization at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, explained, “Each local government plans to expand the recruitment of local government officials focusing on frontline personnel responsible for public services to citizens,” adding, “It is expected to contribute to improving residents’ quality of life and regional development by recruiting talented local human resources.”

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