Over 130,000 Additional Public Officials in 5 Years of Moon Administration... Three Times Park Administration, Ten Times Lee Administration

[Public Servant Salaries in the 100 Trillion Won Era]
Results of Job Policies Focused on the Public Sector... Next Government Faces Urgent Need to Streamline Expanding Organizations

Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] It has been revealed that the Moon Jae-in administration increased the number of public officials by nearly 130,000 over the past five years. This is the result of 'job creation policies' focused on the public sector, exceeding three times the scale of the previous Park Geun-hye administration (41,504) and ten times that of the Lee Myung-bak administration (12,116). As the next government's organizational reform plan is expected to be outlined this week, there are urgent calls for streamlining the bloated government organization that has grown over the past five years.

According to the office of Lee Myung-soo, a member of the People Power Party, and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 28th, the total number of public officials in South Korea was counted at 1,156,952 as of the end of 2021. This includes national and local public officials (758,024 and 380,819 respectively), as well as public officials from independent institutions such as the legislative branch, judiciary, Constitutional Court, and Central Election Commission. ▶Related article on page 3

This represents a 12.4% (127,414) increase compared to the end of 2016 (1,029,538), the year before the Moon administration took office. This growth rate is higher than that of the previous administrations: Park Geun-hye (4.19%), Lee Myung-bak (1.24%), and even Roh Moo-hyun (8.23%).

Focusing on 18 government ministries, the number of public officials increased by 6.8%, from 443,131 at the end of 2016 to 473,458 at the end of 2021. Except for the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which saw a decrease due to the separation of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, all 17 other ministries increased their staffing levels.

The significant increase in the number of public officials over the past five years is the result of the current administration's commitment to creating 810,000 public sector jobs, mobilizing taxes to create public jobs in government and public institutions. The problem is that once the number of public officials increases, it is difficult to reduce, and the expansion of personnel expenses and pension payments continuously places a heavy burden on national finances. The expansion of government organizations can also lead to stricter regulations and hinder private sector vitality.

The Presidential Transition Committee's requests last week during the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Personnel Management's work reports to discuss the issue of public official staffing and efficient personnel reallocation are not unrelated to this situation. There is an urgent need to shift from government-led to private sector-led economic growth, as promised by President-elect Yoon Seok-youl, by transforming into a 'small and efficient government.'

Professor Hong Kiyong of the Department of Business Administration at Incheon National University pointed out, "The Moon Jae-in administration increased the number of public officials and public institution employees more from a welfare perspective than administrative efficiency, causing serious inefficiencies in administration and national fiscal expenditures. As the need for administrative personnel has decreased due to digital transformation, the new government should prioritize public sector efficiency as a key task."

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