As the number of civil servants leaving their posts is rapidly increasing due to low salaries, excessive workloads, and a rigid work culture, a recent survey found that last year’s intention to leave among civil servants reached its highest level since records began. Despite the government’s efforts to retain civil servants by improving compensation, such as raising salaries, critics say these measures have not been effective.

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On the 9th, the Korea Institute of Public Administration released the results of its "2024 Public Service Life Survey," conducted in August and September of last year with 6,075 general civil servants from 48 central administrative agencies and metropolitan and basic local governments. The results showed that the "intention to leave" among central and metropolitan civil servants has increased for seven consecutive years since the survey began in 2017. The intention to leave score, which was 2.83 out of 5 in 2017, rose to 3.31 last year. Among basic local government civil servants, whose intention to leave has been surveyed since 2022, the score increased from 3.30 to 3.48 last year.

The main reason for intending to leave was low pay (66.6%), which ranked first. In fact, the starting monthly salary for grade 9 civil servants last year was only 1,877,000 won, not even reaching 2 million won. Excessive workload (10.5%) ranked second. The average score for perceived workload among civil servants was 3.70, indicating that most feel their workload is heavy.

Job stress and job satisfaction are also worsening. Last year, the average "job stress perception" score was 2.87 for central and metropolitan civil servants and 3.00 for basic local government civil servants. Causes of job stress included contradictory demands or instructions from superiors, inconsistencies between demands from superiors and subordinates, and dealing with civil complaints, among others.

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Job satisfaction, which measures interest, passion, and sense of achievement felt by civil servants during their work, also declined last year, with an average score of 3.34 for central and metropolitan civil servants and 3.17 for basic local government civil servants. Perception of public service values, which measures factors such as responsiveness to citizen opinions, persuasion of stakeholders, adherence to ethics and norms, and emphasis on achieving policy goals, also declined to 3.50 and 3.59, respectively.

Civil servants’ perception of public service values and motivation for public service have also declined across the board. Perception of public service values?measured by respect for clients and colleagues, performing duties according to principles, and emphasis on achieving policy goals?was 3.59 for central and metropolitan civil servants and 3.50 for basic local government civil servants, continuing a downward trend since 2022. Motivation for public service?measured by recognition of the value of serving the public and willingness to sacrifice for the public good?also continued its decline since 2020, scoring 3.18 for central and metropolitan civil servants and 3.01 for basic local government civil servants.

The Korea Institute of Public Administration explained, "Compared to central and metropolitan civil servants, basic local government civil servants have lower job satisfaction, higher intention to leave, and experience greater stress due to frequent field work and handling civil complaints," adding, "This shows the need for human resource management and solutions tailored to the characteristics of basic local government civil servants who work on the front lines."

Meanwhile, attention is focused on whether the government’s recent compensation improvements, such as raising civil servant salaries, can stem the outflow from the public sector. This year, the starting salary for grade 9 civil servants rose by 6.6% (123,882 won) to 2,000,882 won, surpassing 2 million won for the first time. Including various allowances, the annual compensation for entry-level grade 9 civil servants is 32.22 million won, with a monthly average of 2.69 million won, according to the government. In addition, the government plans to introduce measures to eliminate unreasonable practices in the public sector work culture.