Public institutions in South Korea hired fewer than 20,000 new full-time employees last year, marking the lowest recruitment level in five years—half the number recorded in 2019.
According to data released on Feb. 10 by ALIO, the public disclosure system under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, 339 public institutions—including 12 affiliated organizations—hired a total of 19,920 full-time employees in 2024, excluding executives and permanent contract workers. This marked a decline of 287 from the previous year’s 20,207 and was less than half of the 40,311 hires recorded in 2019. It was also the first time the number of new hires at public institutions dropped below 20,000.
A total of 163 institutions, including Korail Tourism Development and the King Sejong Institute, reduced hiring compared to the previous year, while seven organizations, such as the Seoul Arts Center, reported zero new hires.
Experts say S. Korea’s sluggish economy has made public-sector jobs more attractive, leading fewer employees to leave for entrepreneurship or private-sector opportunities. As a result, fewer positions have opened up for new hires. A personnel officer at a public institution noted that with more employees staying until retirement rather than opting for early retirement, the number of available positions has continued to shrink.
Woo Seok-jin, an economics professor at Myongji University, said, “During economic downturns, people tend to stay in stable public-sector jobs rather than take risks seeking other opportunities.”
Some analysts say hiring has declined partly because many non-regular workers were given full-time positions in 2019 under former President Moon Jae-in’s administration. Lee Jong-seon, a professor at Korea University, noted that this shift has reduced public institutions’ ability to take on new employees.
Additionally, hiring at national university hospitals, including Seoul National University Hospital and Kyungpook National University Hospital, also declined last year due to disputes over increasing medical school enrollment, adding to the overall hiring slowdown.
A growing preference for recruiting experienced workers over entry-level employees, a trend seen in the private sector, appears to be spreading to public institutions as well. Of the total full-time hires last year, 16,429—or 82.5%—were under the age of 34. This marks the lowest proportion since 2020, when it stood at 74.8%, following the employment shock of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With fewer entry-level positions available, more young job seekers have turned to part-time work. According to Statistics Korea, as of May 2023, 18.9% of first-time workers aged 15 to 34 were employed in part-time jobs with fewer than 36 hours per week—the highest percentage since data collection began in 2017, when the figure stood at 13.5%.
