[Opinion] X-Man Is Exploiting Cheongnyeon

There is an employee at a public institution called A. This employee, who is in their 50s, spends time surfing the internet when they come to work. Colleagues around say, "It seems like they are just looking at the internet all day long." When the team leader gives work instructions, the employee only says "Understood" but does not actually do the work. Tasks that should be finished in half a day are dragged out for a week. One day, this employee suddenly took a vacation. They only said, "I will take a few days off starting tomorrow," and did not come to work the next day. Leaving their work unfinished and going on vacation naturally caused work disruptions. Colleagues hurriedly took over the tasks, breaking out in cold sweat.

There is no way colleagues would like this employee. Resistance from coworkers grows strong, and during personnel evaluations, this employee is repeatedly transferred to different departments. In this way, they move from one department to another every two years, living as a ‘salary loafer (salary thief).’ They have no intention of getting promoted and are determined to somehow endure until retirement. The HR department has no way to discipline them. The labor union also neglects them simply because they are a union member. Colleagues call this employee the ‘X-man.’

In organizations, X-men are usually those in their 40s to 50s who have given up on promotion and try to do as little work as possible while serving out their tenure. X-men exist in central government, local governments, and public institutions alike. In private companies, such X-men are finding it increasingly difficult to endure. This is because the seniority-based pay system, which pays according to rank, is being dismantled and performance-based pay systems are being strengthened.

A few years ago, a prominent domestic economist described the behavior of these X-men as "people exploiting the younger generation." He explained, "They are sucking the honey of seniority-based pay and not giving up their positions, thus taking away jobs from young people."

According to the ‘October Employment Trends’ released by Statistics Korea on the 15th, the employment rate for those aged 15 to 64 reached 69.7%, the highest since statistics began in 1989. The unemployment rate is only 2.1%. In contrast, the employment rate for those aged 15 to 29 is only 46.4%, continuing a downward trend since last February. Job mismatching (supply-demand imbalance) is cited as the reason. In a January survey by Statistics Korea, one out of three young people who were not working said it was because "it was difficult to find the job they wanted."

Previous governments have introduced various support measures to create jobs for young people, but have failed to produce significant results each time. If young people cannot even get jobs amid a declining population, the future of the Korean economy becomes truly bleak. The population cliff caused by low birth rates and aging, and the resulting decline in potential growth rate, pose the greatest threat to the Korean economy. Young people need to secure good jobs to decide on marriage and childbirth. To help them get jobs, the older generation, so-called X-men, who occupy good positions while doing nothing, must be removed first. The first step is to dismantle the seniority-based pay system.

The Yoon Seok-yeol administration has already expressed its intention to introduce a performance-based pay system in the public sector. Visible results must be delivered within this year. Is it wishful thinking to expect that public institutions will be pushed by the government’s pressure to make a face-saving announcement of ‘introducing a performance-based pay system’? If this announcement remains only a pretense, public reform and labor reform will inevitably end in failure.

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