10% of 2020 Job Openings Were Public Sector Positions... Over Half of the Increased Jobs Were for Ages 50-60

2020 Public Sector Employment Statistics

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] In 2020, one out of every ten employed people secured a job in the public sector, including government and public enterprises. Notably, more than half of the increase in public sector jobs compared to 2019 was accounted for by the 50s and 60s age groups.

According to the '2020 Public Sector Job Statistics' released by Statistics Korea on the 20th, the total number of public sector jobs in 2020 was 2,766,000, an increase of 164,000 (6.3%) compared to the previous year. Among these, general government jobs increased by 155,000 to 2,375,000, and public enterprise jobs increased by 9,000 to 391,000.

The ratio of public sector jobs to total employment was 10.2%, up 0.7 percentage points from 9.5% a year earlier. This is the largest scale since related statistics began in 2016.

By age group, the largest increase was among seniors aged 60 and over. The number of employed persons aged 60 and over in the public sector in 2020 was 241,000, an increase of 46,000 (23.5%) compared to the previous year.

Next, the number of employed persons aged 50-59 also increased by 41,000 (6.7%) during the same period. This means that the 50s and 60s generations accounted for more than half of the total increase in public sector jobs.

By gender, male public sector jobs (1,473,000) outnumbered female jobs (1,293,000).

Government agency jobs totaled 2,127,000, an increase of 130,000 (6.5%) from the previous year. Among these, civil servant jobs reached a record high of 1,394,000. The number of civil servant jobs has been steadily increasing recently.

Non-civil servant jobs also increased by 95,000 (15%) to 733,000 compared to the previous year.

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