This Year, 28,717 Local Government Officials to be Hired...Expanded Opportunities for Disabled, Low-Income, and High School Graduates

Local Councils Also Select 1,030 Members
9th Grade Public Recruitment Excludes High School Elective Subjects Like Social Studies, Science, Math... Adjustment Scoring System Abolished

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that this year, local governments nationwide plan to newly hire 28,717 local public officials.

The number of planned recruits increased by 5.6% compared to 27,195 last year, and starting this year, with personnel authority granted to local council chairs, local councils will separately hire 1,030 local council-affiliated officials, including policy support specialists. By job category, 28,605 general public officials and 112 appointed officials will be selected. Among the general officials, there are 796 at grade 7 or higher, 24,327 at grades 8-9, 489 research and guidance positions, 2,962 fixed-term positions, and 31 professional career positions.

The number of recruits by province and city is as follows: Gyeonggi-do 5,920, Seoul 4,729, Jeollanam-do 2,258, Gyeongsangbuk-do 2,183, and Busan 2,057. By job series, plans are to select 10,923 administrative positions, 3,643 facility positions, 2,557 social welfare positions, and 1,938 health and nursing positions.

New personnel will be hired through open competitive recruitment exams for 23,145 people (80.6%) and career competitive recruitment exams for 5,572 people (19.4%). Additionally, to realize social integration and secure diversity in public service, opportunities for selection will be expanded for persons with disabilities, low-income groups, and high school graduates (expected). For persons with disabilities, separate recruitment will be conducted for grades 7 and 9 exams at a rate of 1,597 people (6.4%), which is higher than the legally mandated employment rate of 3.6%. For low-income groups, 833 people (3.8%) will be selected for the grade 9 exam, exceeding the legal employment rate of 2%. For graduates (expected) of specialized high schools such as specialized vocational high schools and Meister high schools, 400 people will be selected this year through career competitive recruitment exams.

Meanwhile, starting this year, specialized subjects by job category will be mandatory in the grade 9 open competitive exam, and high school elective subjects such as social studies, science, and mathematics will be excluded. Accordingly, the adjustment (standard) scoring system, which was introduced to adjust score differences among elective subjects, will be abolished. Furthermore, to reduce the exam fee burden for socially vulnerable groups, the exemption for local public official recruitment exam fees will be expanded to include the near-poor class.

The local public official open and competitive recruitment written exams, held simultaneously nationwide this year, will be conducted on June 18 for grades 8 and 9, and on October 29 for grade 7. However, to quickly replenish personnel responding to the COVID-19 infectious disease, the grade 8 nursing open competitive exam will be advanced to April 30.

Choi Hoon, Director of the Local Autonomy and Decentralization Office, said, “To respond to the COVID-19 infectious disease and support the public’s daily recovery, local governments plan to expand local public officials centered on residents and the field,” adding, “We expect that selecting capable local talents will lead to improved public administrative services and enhanced competitiveness of local governments.”

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