Last Year’s New Hires at Public Institutions Remain in the 30,000s for 3 Consecutive Years... Net Profit Improvement

Debt, 544.8 trillion KRW, up 3.4% YoY
Assets, 902.4 trillion KRW, up 4.8% YoY

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] With the expansion of hiring in the healthcare sector due to the spread of COVID-19, public institutions recorded new hires in the 30,000 range for the third consecutive year last year. Although debt increased due to essential investments and loans in power facilities and roads, capital increased even more, resulting in a debt ratio that decreased by 5.4 percentage points compared to the previous year.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on the 30th the '2020 Public Institution Management Information' containing these details. This announcement analyzed the management information of 350 public institutions over the past five years across 26 disclosure items including staff quotas, new hires, and financial information.

Last year, public institutions newly hired a total of 31,000 people, including 12,000 in the healthcare sector responding to COVID-19 and 5,000 in the SOC sector for workplace safety enhancement. Accordingly, related hiring maintained the 30,000 range for three consecutive years following 34,000 in 2018 and 41,000 last year. Woo Haeyoung, Director of Public Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, explained, "Considering the baseline effects from the operation of the autonomous quota adjustment system and the conversion to regular positions in 2018-2019, stable new hiring in the 30,000 range has been maintained for three consecutive years."

The number of employees in public institutions was 436,000, an increase of 15,000 (3.7%) compared to the previous year due to new hires in essential areas such as COVID-19 response and the designation of new public institutions (12 in 2021). This includes 3,000 in essential healthcare, 2,000 in SOC for new safety organizations, and 1,000 in energy for power facility expansion.

Socially equitable hiring met all legally mandated employment ratios, but the overall hiring scale sharply decreased compared to the previous year due to baseline effects from the large-scale conversion and hiring of non-regular workers to regular positions in 2019. Female hires were 14,399, down 26.5% from the previous year; persons with disabilities were 636, down 68.9%; and youth hires were 22,668, down 18.2%. Their proportions relative to new hires were 46.8% for women, 2.1% for persons with disabilities, and 73.8% for youth.

The number of non-regular workers was counted at 61,000, down 19,000 from the previous year due to the annual conversion plan for non-regular workers in the public sector starting in 2017.

In terms of work-family balance, indicators showed notable improvement. The overall childcare leave usage rate was 2.0%, an 8.4% increase from the previous year, with the increase in male childcare leave users (22.6%) exceeding that of female users (6%) by three times. Usage of time-selective work (47.5%) and flexible work schedules (8.5%) also increased.

Last year, the debt scale of public institutions was KRW 544.8 trillion, a 3.4% increase from the previous year, but assets increased by 4.8% to KRW 902.4 trillion, resulting in an overall debt ratio of 152.4%, down 5.4 percentage points from the previous year. The increase in asset scale was due to the steady growth of rental assets of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) and the increase in toll road management rights of Korea Expressway Corporation. Net income for the period was about KRW 5.3 trillion, a 562.5% increase from the previous year. This was due to improved operating performance of Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), the five power generation companies, and the National Health Insurance Service. Accordingly, public institutions recorded a net profit for eight consecutive years.

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